PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 819 



than in the moths. In the pupse the corpuscles get mingled up with the 

 globules and so at a cursory examination one is likely to confound the 

 corpuscles with the fatty globules. But that method is a long one and 

 for the moth one prefers to wait a few days after oviposition before 

 proceeding to the examination in order to give to the parasite time 

 enough to multiply itself and to propagate itself sufficiently, thus 

 infecting the entire body of the moth and so simplifying the work. 

 The corpuscles are then very abundant and one can detect them at the 

 first glance without any difficulty. Besides, in the moths, even when 

 taken immediately after the termination of oviposition, the corpuscles 

 are already sufficiently abundant in the cases of pebrinized subjects so 

 that it may be very easy to distinguish them. 



2. The examination of the mid-intestine or the Stomach is preferable 

 when it is intended to examine the pupse. Pasteur has in fact advised 

 similarly. For the moth this is not at all necessary and this process 

 will be a very long one. 



3. As I have said, the corpuscles since the maturity of the worms 

 (during the time of the formation of the cocoon in the pupal period and 

 during the life of the female moth until after the oviposition) have had 

 time to multiply themselves. They have multiplied in abundance in 

 the body of the animal and one can detect them without difficulty. 

 Thus, by limiting the examination to the stomach of the moth, one 

 would prolong without any utihty the duration of the operation for 

 microscopic examination, in which the graineur has a great economic 

 interest to curtail and simplify the work as much as possible." 



This is true in Indian climatic conditions also. Our figures in the 

 Tables corroborate the above statement. Pebrine scores cannot he Nature of Pebrine. 

 transmitted to the embnjo if they are confined to the mid-gut. If egg-cells 

 are free from pebrine then they cannot contain any spores in them 

 when they are developed into eggs as the corpuscles cannot infect the 

 emb yo through the chorion. // the ovary is infected tvith pebrine after 

 the formation of the chorion the moths will lay perfectly healthy eggs ; some 

 pebrine spores may adhere on the outer shells but they cannot infect the 

 embryo. These spores are removed by washing the eggs with water. 

 Pebrine is not hereditary in this sense. • When the infection is very mild 

 in the gut and if we fail to detect pebrine bodies in the ovaries the spores • 

 will not be able to transmit them to the progeny. If the egg-cells of 

 pupse are infested with pebrine then in 99 cases out of 100 the spores 

 will multiply in large numbers and the detection becomes easy when 

 the moths are examined on the fifth or sixth day after oviposition. 

 No one can say definitely that a certain moth is perfectly healthy and 

 is quite free from pebrine spores unless all the body-juice including 



