PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 727 



Tope can be made out of the straw. Attempts were made to prepare 

 ropes with Bihar straw but without success. Plate 114, fig. 1, is a 

 diagrammatic section through the Pura. The hollow space inside is 

 occupied by the grain and there is a thick lining of straw between 

 the grain and the covering of ropes. 



Unhusked paddy grains are known to keep well in Puras for years. 

 Husked rice is, however, known to be attacked by the Rice Weevil 

 (Calandra oryzce) if kept for two or three years. Much depends on the 

 make of the Pura and ability of the insects to penetrate into it. 



There is also a method of prpserving paddy seeds inside straw bundles. 

 Two such bundles are seen lying on the ground in front of Plate 118, 

 fig. 2. The seeds are placed in loose straw which is then rolled up into 

 a large bale which is secured and made tight by means of ropes passed 

 round it. In Bihar these bundles are known as Puras. They are either 

 kept indoors or in the court yard where they are covered with earth. 

 Sometimes several such puras are kept outside on a sort of a platform 

 similarly covered with earth, the covering of earth being intended to 

 protect the seeds from rain. Mr. Deshpande says a similar method is 

 followed in the Konkan where the bundles are known as Mudhas. About 

 a maund or at the most two maunds of seeds can be preserved in one 

 bundle. 



Cavities in walls. In some places for storing small quantities of 

 grain hollow cavities are kept in walls of houses. 



Store House .' Hamar, Gala, Kotha, Kothi. For storing grains in bulk 

 outdoor methods are adopted. In many places regular store-houses are 

 built with solid walls all round and small doors like trap-doors high up 

 in the wall near the roof. In order to keep the grain as much above 

 the ground as possible sometimes the store-house is built with two 

 storeys, the room or rooms in the first floor being used for storage and 

 the space in the ground floor for other purposes. In such houses no 

 other receptacle is used and the grain is poured into the room through 

 the small door. Rarely such houses are built with wooden walls. 

 These houses, built specially for storage purposes, are variously known 

 as hamars, galas, kothas, kothis, etc. 



Morai (Plate 116) is a feature of Western Bengal as far as the writers 

 know, being used practically wholly for storing paddy grains in bulk 

 out of doors. 



Plate 116 shows the building of the small morai which was used for 

 storing wheat at Pusa. It is built practically on the same principle as 

 the straw -pura described above (Plate 114) with ropes of straw. A 

 large morai intended for keeping a large quantity, say several hundred 

 maunds, of grain, is usually built on a solid platform either of earth or 



