J^O, 1, ] Mhcellaneons Notes. 27 



in testing this treatment. Mr. W. Jackson and others to whom I have applied sav 

 that they would have no time to attend to the work, and also that they are not now 

 so much troubled with the pest. Mr. Shelley seems to have confined his experiments 

 to young plants in nurseries." — [E. E. Gresn.) 



" At the request of Mr. E. E. Green I am returning you a force pump which yon 

 had lent him for the purpose of spraying bug-infested coffee, and which he at my 

 request sent on to me to try some experiments in the same way. I regret to say 

 that the emulsion of kerosine oil was not satisfactory, and the insect seemed to o-et on 

 tlie trees almost at once after the application. Pure kerosine seems to have some 

 influence in destroying the bug, but it at the same time rots the skin of theyouno- coffee 

 berries, so that it cannot be used while the crop is on tbe trees, which in sou'e districts 

 here is practically all the year round. I fear it is useless trying to contend with this 

 pest on a large scale and that we have to look forward to the complete extinction of 

 coflfee in this island ere long." — {J. G. Croiv.) 



" it has been an unfavourable season for trying the pump, as we have had hardly 

 any bug to speak of; and what we have had has been on isolated trees here and there ; 

 so I am quite unable to say anything as to cost. But I have been much pleased at the 

 result of the emulsion applied with the pump, and all I can say is that under ordinary 

 circumstances, such as not too steep a lay of laud, and with water handy, I believe it 

 would be quite easy to keep the bug in check." — {F. H. Shelley.) 



In May 1890 was received from llie Department of Laud Records 



^, , „ , ^ and Agriculture in Madras a packet of wee- 



Stored Sorghum pests, -n 1 1 1 ^ re I 



villed cliolum seed {Sorghum vulgare), in- 

 fested by numerous specimens of Calandra orj/za (wheat and rice 

 weevil), also of the common Ptinid ( ? B/iizopertJia pusilla, Fabr.)^ a single 

 specimen of 8>lva7ius Surinam ensis being also found. The injury to tbe 

 seed appeared to be chiefly due to the Calandra and Ptinid^ which are 

 the two insects that do most of the injury to stored wheat in India, 

 Silvanus surinamensis being also a common granary pest which is often 

 found in wheat. As far therefore as can be judged from this sample, it 

 seems that stored sorghum seed and stored wlieat in India have commc^n 

 enemies, and that any measures found useful in protecting the one are 

 likely to be efficacious with the other. 



From the Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras, have 



,^, „ J , , n,„^.„ been received specimens of six species of Acri- 

 The Madras locust of 1878. , ^ 



didse said to have been the locusts which 



proved destructive in the Madras Prcfidency in 1878. The specimens 



comprised tlie species Acridinm arnghiosvm, Burm., represented by about 



half a dozen individuals, and Acridhim w,elanocorne, Serv, var., Mecopoda, 



sp., Trijxalis turrifay Linn., Euprepocnemis, sp., and Pachytylus cineras- 



cens (?), Linn., each represented by one, or at most two individuals, the 



single specimen of Fachytylus cinerascens (?) being in such a poor state 



of preservation that its specific identification was somewhat doubtful. 



