REVIEWS. 99 
FIVEVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
“Report or rue Proceepincs or tHe Sxeconp Mnromonocican 
Meerine, held at Pusa, 1917. Edited by T. Bainbrigee Fletcher, 
R.N., F.L.8., F.E.S., F.Z.8., Caleutta, 1917.—From fhe Imperial 
Entomologist of India, T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, R.N., F.L.8., we have 
received a copy of the above Report of the meeting held at Pusa, 
February 5th to February 12th, 1917, recently published. It consists of 
a quarto volume of more than 800 pages with 34 coloured plates, and 
is practically a very full abstract of the current knowledge of Indian 
crop-pests. It is hoped that it may be of ‘‘ assistance to non-entomo- 
logical members of the Agricultural Departments and to others inter- 
ested in the minimising of damage to crops by insects.” References are 
constantly given to “Some South Indian Insects,” a book by the 
same author reviewed in this magazine some years ago. The coloured 
plates are illustrative of a series of life-histories which have been 
printed and issued from Pusa at various opportunities during the past 
few years, and are admirably executed by Indian artists on the Staff. 
In an opening address the chairman, Mr. Fletcher, explained the objects 
of the Meeting and the methods of procedure, incidently touched on a 
few biological problems of general interest, and emphasised the necessity 
of the exactitude of records. The various crops were dealt with in 
groups. Hill Crops including Tea, Coffee, Rubber, etc. Leguminous 
Field Crops including Beans, Peas, Grain, Lentils, Hemp, Indigo, ete. 
Oil-seeds: Castor, Linseed, Sunflower, etc. Malvacezx: Cotton, ete. 
Fibre Plants: Jute, etc. Cereals and Fodder Plants: Sugar-cane, 
Rice, Wheat, Oats, Grasses, Bamboos, Lucerne, etc. Fruit-trees: 
Orange, Mango, Guava, Grape, Peach, Fig, Mulberry, Cashew, 
Tamarind, etc. Palms: Coconut, etc. Garden Plants. Drugs and 
Dyes: Tobacco, Opium, etc. Cruciferous Crops: Cabbage, Turnip, 
Beet, ete. Vegetables and Condiments: Potato, Chillies, Ginger, Yam, 
Celery, Pepper, Gourd, etc. All the known enemies of each crop are 
considered in detail and means of control are discussed, each repre- 
sentative in turn giving the results of his observation and experience 
in that spirit of ‘‘mutual confidence and mutual aid” which the chair- 
man in his address urged should be their motto. The life histories of 
Htiella zinckenella, Agrotis ypsilon, Heliothis armigera, Utetheisa pulchella, 
Terias hecabe, Ypsolophus ochrophanes, Cirphis loreyi, Herse convolvuli, 
and Glyphodes indica are among the Lepidopterous subjects dealt with 
on the plates. Mr. Fletcher has taken the opportunity to illustrate 
one of the “ plumes,’ Sphenarches caffer, a member of the group which 
he studied in considerable detail a decade or more ago. In all the 
plates the figures of the earlier stages and of the methods of attack are 
faithfully depicted and must be of great use to agriculturists more or 
less unfamiliar, as most of them are, with the less noticeable portions 
of the life-histories of these pests. On a good proportion of the plates, 
illustrations of the parasites, which tend to control the increase of the 
species, are included. | 
_ The larva of two species of Harias, H. insulana and EF. fabia, 
whose life-histories were admirably pourtrayed in “ South Indian 
Insects,” cause an immense amount of damage to the “bolls” of 
growing cotton. The following extracts from the discussion on the 
attempts at control are very interesting. ‘The control of the boll- 
worm can be attained by introduction of the parasite’’ [Rhogus, sp. ? 
(Hymen,)] “ We have sent living parasites from Pusa to the Punjab 
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