:380 rHOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



E. depressella caterpillars usually effect entrance into the base of 

 "the shoot through the side near or below the soil surface. The cater- 

 -pillars seldom work upwards through the shoot but confine themselves 

 to the extreme base of the shoot or to the newly-formed stem (cane). 

 The tunnel usually runs across the stem and may go round somewhat 

 in a circular manner and it is closely filled with dry powdery frass. The 

 base of the shoot is weakened and when pulled sideways the entire 

 shoot is dislodged at the base. When no stem (cane) is formed the 

 •caterpillar in the majority of cases may either come off with the shoot 

 ■or is more often left exposed to view. But, when the shoot has grown 

 somewhat and has formed a stem (cane), the caterpillar is usually left 

 behind in the stem and can be got at by splitting open the stem. The 

 first external symptom of damage is the " dead heart " and the entire 

 shoot gradually dries. Side shoots are given off by the affected one 

 but the same caterpillar may attack and kill some of them too, if not 

 all. This form of damage is common up to about May. Later in the 

 season, when the stools have formed thick roots, the caterpillars are 

 usually found among the roots where however they are in no want of 

 new shoots which appear practically throughout the season. Even if 

 no new shoots be found the caterpillars may bore the thick root or rarely 

 the base of the gro^vll-up canes. In a few cases they have been observed 

 to bore the setts. 



E. depressella has been observed to be active from about March to 

 October and the winter is passed in hibernation in the larval state in the 

 roots. The 14th of October is the latest date before winter and 28th 

 ' February is the earliest date after winter, when moths have emerged, 

 •Ordinarily the life-cycle is completed in about a month-and-a-half. 

 In the lusectary one brood took 56 days, viz., egg 3 days, larva 41 

 days, and pupa 12 days. 



The eggs are flattened, scale-like, and creamy- white in colour and 

 •are deposited singly or a few at one place but separately, on the stem 

 ■or even on the ground and less frequently on leaves. The young larva 

 is about 2 mm. long, pale yellow with a yellow-brown head and five 

 pairs of equally developed prolegs. The fullgrown larva measures about 

 30 mm. in length, has a yellow-brown head and creamy white body 

 which is somewhat -wrinkled transversely. The dorsal vessel is usually 

 visible as a brown marking on the back. The larvae are rather sluggish. 

 They pupate in the tunnel they form in the stem or roots. Before 

 pupation an opening for the emergence of the future moth is made in 

 the form of a silken tube which comes up to the surface of the earth 

 when pupation happens to take place at some depth. The pupa is 

 yellow-brown in colour and can be easily distinguished from the pupae 



