^ Indian Economic Entomology. [ Yol, H. 



Henri de Saussure of Switzerland ; Messieurs Big-ot and Desbroehers 

 de Logis of France; Lord Walsingham, Colonel Swinhoe, and Messrs. 

 Buckton and Moore of England ; Mons. Kerremans and Dr. Auguste 

 Lameere of Belgium j Mr. Maskell of New Zealand; Mr. Howard 

 of the United States. Progress has necessarily been somewhat slow, but 

 named specimens are accumulating, and it is already becoming the rule, 

 instead of, as heretofore, the exception, when an insect is sent to the 

 Museum as attacking a crop, for it to be practicable to identify it without 

 delay and to refer to what is known about it. 



In the matter of Lectures, a course on Forest Entomology was given 

 in the Forest School in Dehra Dun, and it is hoped that the subject will 

 be taken up hereafter by other agricultural bodies. 



In the matter of Miscellaneous insects, a large amount of information 

 was collected from the reports and specimens which have been received 

 from Government officers, as well as from private individuals in all parts 

 of India, a large portion of it being furnished through the various 

 dii'ectors of Land Records and Agriculture, from whom much assistance 

 has been received. It will be found embodied in the following Notes, 

 vyhich are necessarily very incomplete, though it is hoped that they will 

 serve to bring to light points that were previously unrecorded in connec- 

 tion with the insects that attack crops in India. In compiling these 

 Notes care has been taken to indicate what is already known about each 

 pest, so as to facilitate the investigations which it is hoped hereafter 

 to institute locally ; for the experience gained during the past few 

 years, in the attempt that has been made in Calcutta to investigate the 

 subject of the pests and other insects, which in some cases are not to be 

 found nearer than the other side of India, shows clearly that it is useless 

 to expect to obtain anything like complete information, unless facilities 

 are afforded for visiting the localities where the insects are actually at 

 work. 



From the Secretary to the Municipal Committee in Amritsar were 



received in October 1890 caterpillars of a 



Maize Stalk Borer. microlepidopterous moth which was said to 



have proved very destructive to millet and 



maize around Amritsar, none of the fields being free from it. The damage 



was variously estimated at from one-sixth to one-tenth of the crop. The 



caterpillars proved to be either identical with, or very closely allied to, 



the Sugarcane Borer [Biatrcea saccharalis) , described on pages 22 to 28 of 



Vol. I, No. 1 of these Notes. The maize stalks in which the caterpillars 



arrived having become somewhat dry, the caterpillars were transferred to 



pieces of sugarcane, into which they tunnelled eagerly. The sugarcane 



was periodically changed, but as yet (3rd March 1891) the insects are still 



