No. 2- ] 



Miscel laneous Notes. 



97 



that, so far as could be made out from the specimens forwarded, the 

 insect seems to be identical with the species Aphis brassica which attacks 

 Sinapis urveitsis and other hold crops in England. It would be desirable 

 to procure further specimens to enable the insect to be identified with 

 certainty. It is likely to be the one noticed by Duthie and Fuller, in 

 their Field and Garden Crop^ as attacking Brassica compestris (rape) 

 and its varieties in the North-West Provinces. The following is au 

 extract from their valuable work (Part II, page 31) :— 



" The outturn of rape is extremely precarious, or otherwise it would be much more 

 generally grown as a sole crop than it is, since area for area the value of a crop of 

 sarson would be considerably greater than that of a crop of wheat. It is, however, 

 peculiarly liable to the attacks of a species of blight, and in damp seasons every 

 plant in a field is not uncommonly covered with tiny insects (Aphides), which suck 

 the sap from the flowering shoots and effectually pi event any seed from growing. 

 Where holdings are large, as they are in the sub-Himalayan country, a cultivator can 

 afford to risk the total loss of the crop on a part of his land, with the chance before 

 him of handsome profits if the season is propitious. But in the crowded districts of 

 the Doab the total loss of a crop means such distress to the cultivator that lie prefers to 

 make a certa ; nty of a moderate profit rather than run any risk in aiming at a large 

 one. The cultivation of rape as a sole crop in some parts of the provinces, and as a 

 subordinate crop in other parts, is therefore explained by a difference in the density 

 of population." 



In March 1892 Mr. J. Mollison, Superintendent of Farms, Bombay 



„. VL ... , . Presidency, forwarded specimens of a cricket 



Cricket injuring potato plants. " . 



which had proved destructive to potato plants 

 in Khandesh, by cut'ing through the stems near the surface of the 

 ground. The insect was found to le indent ical with specimens in Ihe 



Museum collection which have 

 been determined by Dr. Henri de 

 Sanssure as Liogrvllus bimacn* 

 | latus DeGeer (Gryllidse), a species 

 which has not previously been 

 noticed as destructive in India. 

 Crickets of this kind a e ve y 

 difficult to deal with; flooding the 

 land to bring them to the surface, 

 where the birds can get at them, 

 may be useful in cases where it is 

 practicable, while dressing the 

 land with gas lime soot and such 

 fertilisers as kain'rb might perhaps 

 be worth trying, though there is 

 little evidence to show that they 

 do much irocd. 



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