732 PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



filling and emptying. The filling charges are 30 seers of grain which 

 is taken out of what is stored. The emptying charges are five maunds 

 of grain taken out of what is emptied out. These are usually met from 

 the increase in weight and the dealer gets the equivalent of the weight 

 stored. He has to meet them even if there be not so much increase in 

 weight or a shortage. 



Questioned about the death of workers in the khattis due to the 

 accumulation of poisonous gases, Babu Bhulimal said that in his 

 opinion such accidents happened when the grain was spoilt by water 

 too much and when they were left half-emptied over night. In his 

 experience three deaths occurred in 1910 in a khatti which was left about 

 half-full to be emptied wholly the next day. At night three Chamars 

 came to steal the grain. They went in one after another and died. 

 Such cases occurred very rarely. 



The grain in the khattis, at least wheat, does not seem to lose its 

 germinating power entirely. A small quantity of wheat taken out of 

 a khatti at Ghaziabad in March was brought to Pusa and 59 per cent, 

 -of it germinated when tested in April. 



Banda. As described by a literate cultivator of Jabbalpur, this is 

 a modification of the khatti, as illustrated in Plate 122, fig. 1. It is of 

 the same diameter (about 10 feet) throughout and about 15 feet 

 deep. It is filled and the grain heaped up at the top and then covered 

 with earth. The convex covering does not allow rain water to get in. 

 Banda's are made in high grounds and sometimes with masonry walls 

 and bottom. In these too the grain absorbs moisture and acc^uires a 

 shght smell due to fermentation. 



Pev of the Desh or Up-Ghat Districts (Sholapur, Satara, Poona, 

 Ahmednagar, etc.) of the Deccan is, according to Mr. Deshpande, a 

 huge underground godown usually meant for storing very large quan- 

 tities (hundreds of tons) of juar {Andropogon Sorghum) and hajra {Penni- 

 ■ setuni typhoideum) grains. It has small square or circular openings at 

 the top which are at some depth below the ground-level. After filling 

 the godown and closing the openings the earth is filled up and a perma- 

 nent mark is kept to indicate the position of the openings. 



Targhars, or underground cellars of tins place, are of the same nature 

 as the underground godowns, except that they are the underground 

 storey of a superstructure and possess vertical doors. The grain in 

 both the above is said to absorb moisture and acquire a shght smell due 

 to fermentation. 



Kotha or Kothi (literally, a house). The khatti or pit system is said 

 to be not prevalent in the Punjab. There the grain when required to 



