618 PllGCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



These, along with the caterpillars of Sjjalgius epius clear away the 

 colonies on mulberry as well as, on Ficus religiosa. The latter appears 

 late but is very effective in freeing the plant of its pest. In one instance 

 a single Sjyalgius epius caterpillar was observed to have cleared away the 

 colonies of the mealy-bug on a large-sized mulberry plant. The cater- 

 pillar moves about quickly from branch to branch devouring the nymphs 

 as well as the females. When fall-fed, it pupates on the leaves of the 

 infested plant. Hitherto no parasite has been found on the eggmasses 

 or on the adult males of Phenacoccus hirsutus. 



26.— A NOTE ON OUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF INDIAN 

 THYSANOPTERA AND THEIR ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



Bij T. V. Ramakrishna Ayyar, B.A., F.E.S., F.Z.S., Actiug Govern- 

 jnent Entomologist, Madras. 



Though one of the major sub-divisions into which the great class of 

 insects is divided, the Order Thysanoptera is one which has hardly 

 received any serioiis attention till now from Entomologists in India. 

 In America and other Western countries the importance of some of the 

 species of this Order has been realized and a good deal of work has been 

 done in this direction. Some, of the well-known pests of this group in 

 western countries are the pear thrips, orange tlirips, tobacco thrips, 

 wheat thrips and so on. Though many of the forms of this group are 

 found in flowers and are apparently harmless, the group as a whole 

 should not be considered so harmless as we are often led to believe. I 

 have, therefore, attempted in this note briefly to review our knowledge 

 of Indian forms so far known and add a few remarks as to the economic 

 importance of the group as a whole and of some of the species in parti- 

 cular. 



So far as I have been able to find out the following appear to be the 

 previous records of Thysanoptera from India. UzeFs Monograph of 

 this group, which was pubUshed. in 1895 and whicli unfortunately is 

 ill the Bohemian language, according to Lefroy records only two Indian 

 species, viz., Idoloikrips halidayi, Newm., and Phtocotlmps anacardii, 

 Newm., both from South India. 



The later records of species from India are mostly by Bagnall. This 

 well-kno^A^l Thysanopterologist has described the following species up-to- 

 date so far as I know : 



(1) Panchcetothrips indicns, p. 257, Records of the Indian Museum VII, 1912— on 



turmeric, Madras. 



(2) Heliothripsindicus, -p. 291, Annals and Magazine of N. H.Xll,lQlZ — on onion, 



brinjal, indigo, etc., Bengal. 

 (S) Physothrips lefroyi, p. 290, Annals and Magazine of N. H. XII, 1913, on tea 

 flowers, Bengal. 



