No. 1. ] 



Miscellaneous Note*. 



17 



and reports that they belong to the species Masicera grandis (=Tackina 

 grandis Walker, Ins. Saund. Volume I, page 278, 1856). 



In October 1891 Mr. J. R. Cripps of Chumparun forwarded speci- 



„,. . mens of the beetle Ciciudela sexpunctata 



An enemy of the rice-sapper. ^ r 



bubr. which was said to devour the rice-sap- 

 per (Leptocorisa acuta Thunb.) and to be very effectual in keeping it, 

 in check. The beetles were said to come from the buffalo dung which the 

 cultivators were in the habit of putting into their paddy fields with th<- 

 express object of rearing the insect in order to keep down the numbers 

 of the destructive rice- sapper. It is difficult to see what connection 

 there could be between buffalo dung and Cicindelidse, but it is worth 

 noticing that a similar idea exists in the Punjab, where the prevalence 

 of the Carabid beetle Calosoma orientale Hope, which proved useful in 

 destroyingyoung locusts [Acridium perigrinumO\iv.)'m the spring of 1891, 

 was attributed in Kohat to the unusual quantity of the faeces of cattle 

 left, upon the roads, owing to the large number of transport animals which 

 had recently passed through the district to the Miranzai Expedition. 



In July 1891 a number of Dipterous larvae were forwarded to the 



Museum through the Calcutta Agri.-Horti- 



Mango maggots. 1, , • , ... ,, . „ . 



cultural Society, with the information that 

 they had been attacking mangoes (Maagifera iiidica) in Tirhoot. The 



larvae were found 

 to be yellowish mag- 

 gots, about the size 

 of small grains of 

 boiled rice. They 

 had the pointed head 

 and truncated ab- 

 domen so common 

 amongst Dipterous 

 larvae. When liber- 

 ated from the pulp 

 of the mango they 

 progressed partly by 

 crawling and partly 

 by gathering the 

 head and posterior together and leaping into the air some four or live 

 inches at a time. A mango in which the grubs were received was placed 

 on a plate of damp earth in the Museum, and the grubs rapidly made their 

 way out and tunnelled into the earth. Here they remained from the f 3th 



B 



