JJ . L] Miscellaneous Notes. 27 



viridnla Linn. — a cosmopolitan Pentatomid which has previously been 

 sent to the Museum as occurring- on potato (Solanum tuberosum) halms 

 in Bangalore. The second is a small Capsid, which is as yet unnamed 

 in the Museum collection. Specimens are being sent to Europe for 

 precise identification. 1 



In a paper published in the Journal of the A gri.- Horticultural Society, 



Calcutta, Vol. VIII, 1890, Mr. W. Cold- 

 usser in e unjn . stream gives further particulars of his at- 



tempts to cultivate Tnsser silk worms [Antheraa mylitta) in the Punjab. 

 The experiments were chiefly conducted in Hoshiarpur and Lahore, and 

 thev extended through several years. The outturn of cocoons seems to 

 have been very unsatisfactory, but as the result of his experiments, 

 Mr. Coldstream concludes that the cultivation of the Tusser silk worm, 

 as a cottage industry, is by no means impossible in the submontane 

 districts of Northern India where the Zizyphus juguba tree flourishes. 



In July 1890 a specimen of the Acridid Pcecilocera picta Fabr. was 



furnished, through the Director of Land 

 Pcecilocera picta. r> j , . . •, . T , , £ 



r ttecords and .Agriculture, Bombay, rrom 



the Assistant Political Agent, Jhalawa, Kathiawar. The insect was 



known locally as Khapedi. It was said to breed in June, July, and August 



and to damage the young crops. Khapedi seems to be the general local 



name for Acridid grasshoppers of all kinds, and Pcecilocera picta Fa,br. 



is likely to be only one of a number of Acrididaa of local origin which 



proved injurious to young kharif crops in Kathiawar and Sind in the 



rainy season of 1890. 



In the early part of September 1892 numerous specimens of the 



_. . _. _ Acridid Epacromia dorsalis Thunb,, were for- 

 Epacromia dorsalis in Sind. 



warded to the Indian Museum by the 



Director of Land Records and Agriculture, Bombay, with the informa- 

 tion that they had been attacking young kharif crops in the Upper 

 Sind Frontier district. According to a report subsequently furnished by 

 the Deputy Collector of this district, the young jowari {Sorghum vulgare) 

 crop over an area of 570 acres was destroyed by this insect in the early 

 part of the kharif season of 1891. The Deputy Commissioner adds — 

 " these insects appear generally on the lands situated in the vicinity of 

 the hills stretching along the northern bank of the Desert Canal, and 

 cause considerable damage to germs of kharif crops while the sowing 

 operations are still in progress." 



1 Mods. Lethierry bus since examined this insect. He determines it as a new species of 

 Calocoris which he is describing under the name of Calocoris angustatus. 



