1917.] The Fourth Indian Science Congress. clxxxv 





S.AndropogonS6ha>nanthuB, i Flies not reared. 

 1). Apluda varta. ' 



10. Iseilama spp : 2 Flies at Palur. 



11. Ophiurus corymbosus, J Flies not reared. 



12. Oryza sativa (wild variety.) ) 



13. Ischcemum pilosum: Galls noted in black soils in Bellary Dis 



trict: flies reared. These are probably the galls forming the 

 subject of a paper on " Galls on an Indian grass " by Mr. 

 Boodle : Kew Bulletin No. Ill, 1010. 



Except in the case of Panicum Stagninum, the flies bred out proved 

 to be distinct species , each restricted to a single grass. 



Numerous parasites attack these gall-insects and fall into 2 groups : 

 In one the chalcids,— the wasps lay their eggs directly on or near th> 

 maggots. In the other— the Proctotrupids— the wasp searches out the 

 eggs of the gall-fly and deposits eggs therein, as exemplified by Platyo- 

 jaster oryza. 



Indian Tadpoles.— By N. Annandale, and C. R. Xarayana 



Rao. 



The tadpoles of most of the frogs and toads that inhabit the plains of 

 India are now known and have been or will shortly be described in detail, 

 but in a considerable proportion of the species that live in the Hima- 

 layas and the Western Ghats little has yet been discovered about the 

 life-history. In a paper to which this may be regarded as a preliminary 

 note we hope to give full descriptions of the larvae of about one half of 

 the Batrachian Anura of India proper and Assam. ' > 



Those tadpoles that have been found in the mountainous districts ot 

 the Indian Empire are of special interest on account of the adaptations to 

 environment they exhibit. Most of their peculiarities are correlated with 

 life in rapid-running water in which it is important that they should not be 

 carried away by the current or if carried away should float lightly on the 

 surface In some tadpoles from the Himalayas and other mountain 

 regions situated to the east of India (for example, the larvae of Rami 

 afghana) we find a large sucker or adhesive organ formed on the ventral 

 surface of the abdomen, while in others the lips are modified o perform 

 the same function. This is the case, for instance, m the tadpole of Bufo 

 asper. Other larvae from the same streams (those of several, species of 

 Megalophrys) liye in small crannies at the edge but are provide £ with an 

 enormous funnel-shaped structure that surrounds the mouth and < can^ open 

 like an inverted umbrella in such a way as to support them floating on 



the surface with the tail held vertically The ^°°J™I^Zm 

 which lives in the hills of Western India is modified I for an *™P^°us 

 existence bv the early outgrowth of the hind limbs and tl « degenerate 

 character of the fin-membrane of the tail ; it can thus skip away over 

 dam^ock" at the approach of a flood Some alhed species rom the 

 same streams have lost the horny teeth characteristic of .the 1 arvae of 

 most families of Anura, but in th.s case we do not know what the modi 

 ficatwn means^ m wafcer mogtl be!ong to two types : (I) tad- 



pole^ ^TlffiSo mouth-disk and no horny beak or teeft ^and ^n 

 which the spiracle is situated in the ™?f-ventral line an^ i{~V *«» ««* 

 have a fleshy disk surrounding the mouth, with a horny b. k in the rmd 

 die and armed with transverse row of minute horny teeth 'n such f arms 

 +u i •« .jfnafari nn the left side of the body. Indian taapoiea 01 



Sl?^- " X£po\^,K while in — ^ 

 eiee of sJL the horny teeth, .s already note.1. are absent 



