858 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



There is reason to believe that when bushes are thick and adjoining, 

 the effect will be accelerated. The insects failed repeatedly to thrive on 

 coffee and tea-plants in pots. In more natural conditions it may catch 

 on as it has done elsewhere. 



Orthezia insignis is not a very desirable inject to introduce even to 

 reduce Lantana. 



It is highly undesirable to bring in such insects. It is not found in 

 India and we must be careful not to introduce it. 



It was not introduced. 



No ; I know that it was not deUberately brought in to India. What 

 I meant was that it is not desirable to spread it about in India. 



At Bangalore they were working out the hfe-history of Orthezia. 

 I had the opportunity of going to Barwood Estate in the Nilgiris in 1917 

 and saw the planter there. He told me that in 1915 he saw that this 

 scale had wiped out a hedge of Lantana. He sent specimens to Mr. 

 Aristead, who sent them on to Dr. Coleman at Bangalore. Dr. Coleman 

 advised its immediate destruction, saying that it had a number of host- 

 plants and was very dangerous. It was reported that the insect had been 

 destroyed, but I found it still present in numbers on the Lantana bushes 

 in 1917. 



It is a very undesirable thing and even for experimental purposes it 

 should not be Lutroduced. 



It is a pity that these things are not reported at the time. Even for 

 destruction of Lantana this Scale-insect is not very efficient. I remember 

 seeing it on Lantana around Diyatalawa when I was in Ceylon about 

 twelve years ago ; and there it occurred in a patchy sort of way and, 

 although it did check back the bushes actually attacked, it did not occur 

 sufficiently generally to do any real good in checking Lantana. 



51.— THE FUNCTION OF THE PEOTHORACIC PLATE IN 

 BRUCHUS CHIN EN SIS. 



(Abstract.) 

 By K. KuNHi Kannan, M.A., F.E.S, Senior Assistant Entomologist, 

 Mysore. 

 The function of the H-shaped chitinous plate in Bnicluis has remained 

 obscure ever since it was noticed first by Riley. There has been even 

 some m'sapprehension that it was used by the Biuchid larva for excava- 

 tion into the seed. It has, however, been proved that it has no direct 

 share in boring. The structure stands on a movable fold on the prothorax 

 and is thrust against the egg-shell which in B. chinensis is fixed on to the 



