rROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 43T 



ground, considerable damage was done. The hoppers, both the nymphs 

 and the adult, sucked the juice, in consequence of which the affected 

 plants turned pale brown, then brown and ultimately withered away. 

 If, however, the hoppers appeared at a time when the plants were about 

 to put forth ears, so much sap was drained off that these plants were 

 lowered in vitality and so failed to put forth ears. In places it was alsc^ 

 found that if the appearance of the hoppers synchronized with the 

 appearance of the ears on the plants, there was no grain in them and they 

 appeared puckered or prematurely blasted. It was found that in loca- 

 hties where the crop had attained sufficient maturity httle or no damage 

 was done. It was also noticed that the early ripening varieties of paddy 

 either entirely escaped damage or were damaged to a very small extent. 

 Late ripening and transplanted varieties as well as those in Gehunras- 

 lands [lands adjoining villages and enriched from the village washings 

 and the particular habits of the local inhabitants] were the worst sufferers. 

 The reason for this is not far to seek. The varieties of paddy usually 

 grown in Gehunras lands are usually late varieties and as such remain 

 green and succulent at the time of the appearance of the hoppers. It 

 was also noticed that the leaf-hoppers preferred to feed on these than the 

 Harhum [early ripening] varieties growing on Bhila lands [undulating 

 lands with laterite nodules in process of disintegration]. In some places 

 the visitation of the leaf-hoppers on rice plants was associated with the 

 reddening of the water of the infested fields, and it was explained that 

 when the honey-dew exuded by the hoppers — both nymphs and adults 

 — came in contact with the water in the fields, it turned red. I made a 

 search for such fields during September-October 1915, but could in nO' 

 way associate the discolouration of the infested fields with the honey- 

 dew exuded by the insects. In fact I could then hardly find a field which 

 had turned red markedly. All that I could see, and that too in two or 

 three instances only, was that the water in the infested fields had turned 

 slightly red. This was close to the Bhata lands and I could not associate 

 the discolouration with the honey-dew exuded by the hoppers. In fields 

 adjoining fields containing discoloured water the damage was just the 

 same although the water in them had not become discoloured. I did not, 

 in fact, come across a field wherein the damage was more than others 

 containing normal rainwater. No doubt in two or three villages in 

 the Bilaspur District I came across fields where Sderotium oryzce was 

 bad, especially in Gurmatia variety of paddy. If, however, the redness 

 of the infested fields is associated with a fungoid growth, my experience 

 in the worst infested areas deters me from vouchsafing for the correct- 

 ness or otherwise of the plausible explanation offered for the pecuhar 

 phenomenon observed in the hopper-infested areas. 



