PEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 671 



"been rendered non-available. The plots to which these manures were 

 applied were half shut up by the pest at the time of application. At 

 the end of the season the first plot was almost shut up, while the second 

 plot was certainly no worse, and if anything slightly better. 



The estate on which this experiment was carried out contains rather 

 mixed tea, that is to say, China, hybrid, and indigenous bushes are 

 mixed together in any one section. A survey of the garden, in which 

 over 4,000 bushes were examined at intervals, was made, and this survey 

 showed that the intensity of attack was certainly not controlled by the 

 variety of the bush, but by the nature of the soil, for one patch would 

 be better or worse than another, independent of the " jat " of tea. 



In addition to the field experiments, however, investigations were 

 carried out in the laboratory to ascertain the nature of the behaviour 

 ■of the various manures when added to the soil. A grey sandy loam 

 soil and a red clay soil were treated with potash and phosphatic manures, 

 and analysed at intervals to ascertain the behaviour of the manure. 

 It was found that in both cases the potash manures gradually became 

 fixed in the soil, and rendered non- available, this effect increasing with 

 time. In both cases, the phosphatic manures were slightly fixed at 

 first. In the case of the red clay, however, this fixation increased with 

 time while in the case of the grey sandy loam the phosphoric acid, after 

 first being fixed, was subsequently liberated in an available form, until 

 at the end of three months the whole of the phosphoric acid added was 

 found to be present in the soil in an available form. Thus we have been 

 able to detect, in the laboratory, a difference between the two soils 

 which results in the liberation of phosphoric acid in the one and it^ 

 fixation in the other. 



We have gone further into this matter, and endeavoured to find 

 which fractions of the soil contain the bulk of these two constituents 

 in an available form, and have found that in the heavy soil practically 

 all the available potash is present in the clay, while practically all the 

 phosphoric acid is present in the sandy portion. Investigations regarding 

 their distribution in the grey sandy loam are still proceeding. 



31.— LANTANA INSECTS IN INDIA. 



By Y. Ramachandra Rao, M.A., F.E.S., Entomological Assistant {on 



Lantana Work). 



Lantana is probably sufficiently familiar to most of you not to need 



any detailed description. It is a moderate- sized shrub with prickly 



branches and bunches of pretty httle flowers varying greatly in colour 



VOL II. • R 



