60 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



Utetheisa pulchella, Linn. 



S. 1. 1., pp. 371-372, f. 233 ; Proc. Second Entl. Meeting, pp. 66 



(tab), 71. 



Occurs commonly everywhere as a serious pest of Sann Hemp (Crota- 



laria juncea), the larvae eating the leaves and contents of pods. It has 



also been reared on a wild Crotalaria and at Pusa on Heliotropium indicum. 



NOCTUID^. 



Heliothis [Chloridea) obsoleta, Fb. 

 S. 1. 1., pp. 373-374, f. 235 ; Proc. Second Entl. Meeting, pp. 44, 

 49 (tab), 56, 58, 71, 80, 88, 90, 91, 96, 97, 115, 124, 188, 191, 

 206, 212, 265, 272, 273, 274, 289. 



This species is the^ cotton bollworm of America but is rarely found 

 on cotton in India, where, however, it is a serious pest, principally of 

 gram. Its range of foodplants is very wide. It has been reared at 

 Pusa on gram, tur {Cajanus indicus), oats, indigo, lucerne, Malachra 

 capiiata, rose-leaves, cotton-bud, cotton-boll, maize cob, safilower, bajia 

 pod, marua ear, tobacco, tomato, carrot flowers, onion flowers, mangold, 

 castor leaves and capsules, val and sunflower. We have also examples 

 reared at Coimbatore on safflower, at Madras on Indian hemp, at Surat 

 ongram. atKhandesh and Dhulia on cotton-buds, at Anand on tobacco, 

 at Hoshangabad on wheat ears, at Nagpur on gooseberry 

 [probably Cape gooseberry], cotton boll, tur and gram, at Patna on 

 gram, in the United Provinces on poppy heads, at Lyallpur on Kusumba 

 (C'flrt/((7}?n/s imdor/Ms) and on pea-pods, at Peshawar from larva boring 

 young orange fruit, and at Hangu, in the Kohat Valley, North-West 

 Frontier Province, from larvae boring into rose-buds. 



Control is difficult, owing to the wide range of foodplants and to the 

 larval habit of eating into the pods of gram, which is the crop most 

 seriously attacked — so much so that in some districts gram camiot be 

 grown on account of this insect. In the case of young gram plants, 

 bagging with a bag-net may be tried. Spraying is hardly practicable 

 on a field-scale and is of Uttle use when gram-pods are formed and are 

 being attacked. Fields which have been badly infested with larvae 

 should be ploughed immediately after harvest to destroy the pupae in 

 the soil and prevent the resulting moths from ovipositing on other crops. 



We get it occasionally in Eg}^t, but very rarely on cotton. 



It occurs on ganja at Nowgaon in the Eajshahi district. Hand- 

 picking is done to check this pest. 



In the North- West Frontier Province it is impossible to grow gram 

 on irrigated land on account of this pest. 



