Jfo, I, ] Miscellaneous Notes, 43 



through the Board of Revenue and the Government Central Museum, 

 Madras, and were found to be the larvae of a Noctues moth wliich is pro- 

 bably one of tlie Leucaniidse or Heliothidse. The material, however, was 

 insufficient for precise identitieatiou. The injury done by the insect 

 appears to have been slight. 



The following is an abstract of a series of Notes on Mosquito blight 



(HelopelUs theiovora) furnished by Mr, C. 

 Mosquito blight in Daniling. at xj i. £ i.\ ri ■ sl i rx ••, 



^ ° ■■ *= JN. Harcourt, of the Ging factory, Darjil- 



ing. For a more detailed account of the insect vide page 380 of Vol. I 

 of this serial. HelopelUs theioxiora injures tea both in spring and also 

 during September ; it attacks chiefly the young tea shoots, also fuchsias, 

 and a tree [Sohima wallichii), known locally as chilauni, which is botani- 

 cally allied to the tea-plant. The blight does not ascend above an eleva- 

 tion of about 4,500 feet, and most of the damage is done in the Terai. tea 

 planted on black sandy soil appearing to be particularly attacked. Gardens 

 are often affected to the extent of closing the crop earlier than usual and 

 considerably lessening the outturn, but precise estimates of the amount 

 of loss occasioned in the Darjiling tea district are not available. The 

 insect punctures the epidermis of the young tea leaf, with its proboscis, 

 and sucks up a little of the sap, leaving a round transparent spot wher- 

 ever it has been at work, and it seems to have some poisoning effect, as 

 the buds, below an affected leaf, di'y and fall off as it: burnt. The eggs 

 are laid in the soft stems of the tea shoots, and can only be discovered 

 from the three small hairs which are attached to each eo^g and which 

 protrude from where it lies. The eggs are obout one thirty-second of an 

 inch in length and very slender. When first laid they are hard and white 

 in colour, but they become red before hatching. The larva becomes 

 full grown in about a week after emerging from the e^^ ; it has the char- 

 acteristic bug-like odour, and the only auiraal noticed to attack it is a 

 . small spider. 



From the Officiating Commissioner of Settlements and Agriculture, 

 Central Provinces, were received in July 



Rice pest in Sambalpur. i onn j. •^^ a ry \ i.i -J 



^ ioQO, caterpillars or iJombvces moths said 



to be in the habit of destroying paddy in i?ambalpur. The material was 

 insufficient for the precise identification of the insect concerned. 



In February 1890 were received from Mr. John Guilt, of Darjiling, 



^ ..,. ^ ^ caterpillars of the Bombyces moth. Olene 



A Dar-iiling tea pest. / tj-\ rn ■ i j. £ i 



"' meudusa, ilubu. Ihey were said to leeu ou 



tea bushes. 



