670 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



may be fertilized by more than one male. Eggs are laid two days or 

 so after fertilization, the number of eggs laid (in captivity) varying- 

 from fifty to more than five hundred. The eggs are laid in the tissues 

 of the plant, and their position can be ascertained owing to the presence 

 of two fine hairs which project externally. They may be laid in the 

 base of a bud, in the mid-rib of a leaf, or in the young shoot, and towards 

 the end of July, when the insects are beginning to attain large numbers, 

 the eggs are often laid in the broken end of a plucked shoot. This 

 habit of laying in the ends of shoots from which leaf has been plucked 

 protects the eggs from any chance of being removed by the pluckers, 

 and is of great importance, as it means that from about the end of July 

 to the end of the season close plucking, to remove the eggs, is of little 

 avail. 



The insects are exceedingly active in all stages, and feed principally^ 

 during the early morning and late afternoon and evening. They attack 

 all varieties of tea, but especially China and hybrid varieties and certain 

 delicate varieties of light-leaved indigenous kinds. 



The distribution of the insect I discussed at the last Meeting, and 

 I then also discussed the effect of climate on the pest. The action of 

 insecticides, and their value as a means of control, I discussed in my 

 paper on Insect Control at the first session of this Meeting. There is 

 therefore no need to go over this ground again. 



Hand-catching is still largely relied upon as a means of control^ 

 and, though by no means a cure, is yet of considerable value in alle- 

 viating attacks of the pest. 



Our investigations during the past two years have been directed 

 to the problem of the effect of soil conditions on the incidence of the 

 pest. At the last Meeting I spoke of the relationship found to exist 

 between the ratio of available potash to available phosphoric acid in 

 the soil and Hehpeltis attack. I spoke also of the effect of the attack 

 of the insect on the composition of the leaf, and of experiments carried 

 out with potash manures to see whether the pest could be controlled 

 by increasing the ratio of available potash to available phosphoric acid, 

 I told you then that the experiments made seemed to point to the 

 presence of some factor or factors in the soil which controlled the rela- 

 tive availability of the potash and phosphoric acid. Applications of 

 potash manures were successful in some instances, but not in others. 

 Experiments have since been carried out, by adding, in the one case,, 

 sufiicient soluble potash manure to raise the ratio i^diTbie phosphoHclTdd 

 to the required degree, in the other case, a quantity of potash manure 

 sufficient to allow of enough being present in any available form after 

 a quantity proportional to (totm pota.h '"^^^^^;f g-^'^^^f^;^';^;"^'^'^ '" '^' ^""^ has 



