330 I'ROCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



in the trench and covered with soil, complete jDrotection is afforded to 

 the plants, and young clearings have been i-uccessfuUy raised in this way 

 in places where before it was found impossible to grow them. Care 

 must be taken that the young feeding roots do not come in actual contact 

 with the apterite or they will be damaged, hence the reason for making 

 the trench some httle distance away from the plant to be protected, 

 outside the root range. 



During the war it has been impossible to obtain apterite from England 

 and stocks in the country were soon exhausted. Messrs. Parry & Co., 

 Madras, however, came to the rescue and manufactured a substitute 

 under the trade name " Ranicide " which appears to act quite as well. 

 The price of naphthaline, however, caused the cost of this material to be 

 very high. 



Xylotrechiis quadripes, the cofiee borer, is still troublesome. The 

 most efficient remedy so far discovered is to scrub the stems of the bushes 

 in October-November with coconut husk to destroy and dislodge the eggs 

 which are laid in the crevice and under loose pieces of bark. Dr. Coleman^ 

 the Director of Agriculture in Mysore, has pubUshed the results of some 

 work done with methods of control of this insect. 



Tea. 



Of tea pests Helofeltis continues to be the worst insect pest and no 

 new remedies have been found for it. A combination of spra}nng, 

 pruning large areas at one time down wind, burning the prunings, and 

 hand-catching are employed and these give a certain measure of control, 

 but do not materially help to stamp out the pest. Its attacks are most 

 severe in the monsoon which renders all work in connection with it 

 difficult and spraying out of the question. 



Of other pests there have been small sporadic outbreaks of the cater- 

 pillars of Thosea cervina which were easily controlled by hand-jjicking 

 and collection of cocoons and cultivation of the soil round the affected 

 bushes after the cocoons had been formed in it. Caterpillars and cocoons 

 were sent me on 20th August 1917 and^from these moths began to emerge 

 in the laboratory at Bangalore on 3rd January 1918. 



Some specimens of a bark-eating borer have been recently received 

 which are said to do a certain amount of damage. This appears to be a 

 species of Arhela but more specimens are required for identification 

 purposes. This pest is still under investigation and I have no notes at 

 present of any value about it. 



Asfidiotus camellicB, the yellow bark-louse, a scale which used to give 

 a considerable amount of trouble in young tea, especially in replanted 



