-100 Indian Museum Notes. [ T V T L HL 



moths on the 5th of Maw In the case of one at least of the specimens, 



| the caterpillar, when full fed, seems to have 

 deserted the fruit and spun itself up into a 

 very slight silken coecon upon the side of 

 the cage, and this is likely to he the general 

 habit of the insect, though it would be as 

 well to observe further specimens before con- 

 cluding that the habit is an invariable one, 

 The moth proves to be indentical with some 

 specimens in the Museum collection, which have been determined by 

 Colonel Swinhoe as Lencinodes orbonalis Gi.en. (Py rales). This species has 

 been recorded as occurring in all parts of Northern India; also in 

 Burma, Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, Java, and South Africa. 



In July 1891 some Orthopterous insects were forwarded to the 



Museum by the Peputy Commissioner of 

 Ortboptora in Shahpur. . , . , . , . „ • i r.n 



the shahpur District, Punjab. rtiey were 



of two kinds known respectively as TnJca and Tiridda. Both species 

 were said to be exceptionally numerous in Shahpur, where they had 

 done considerable damage to the young summer crops. The Toka 

 insect proved to be a cricket allied to the genus Gryllodes, but hnhnrto 

 unnamed in the Museum collection. It has, therefore, been sent to Euroj e 

 for identification. According to the reports furnished by the district 

 officer.*, this insect sometimes does much.dama.ge to young hajva,(Penniset?im 

 typhoideum), jowar (Sorghum viUgare), cotton [G-osstfpium Iierbnceum) 

 and other crops, both in Shahpur and also in Hissar where it is known by 

 the same name. It appears in the latter part of April. During the day 

 time it generally hes hidden in the ground, hut in the cool of the evening 

 it comes out and feeds upon the young plants, hut does little damage 

 after the crop is four or five inches in height. It disappears in the latter 

 part of the rainy season. With regard to the life history of crickets of 

 this kind little has vet been observed in India, but in the case of allied 

 species in the United States, according to Comstock {Introduction to 

 Entomology) the eggs are usually laid in the ground in autumn. They 

 hatch in the following spring, and the insects mostly die off on the ap- 

 proach of winter. With regard to remedies, too little is yet known to 

 enable any very definite treatment to be recommenced, but breaking up 

 the ground in the cold weather would seem likely te be useful, as it 

 would expose the eggs, both to their natural enemies the birds, and also 

 to the extremes of temperature, which would probably be unfavourable to 

 hatching. The Tiridda insect proves to be an Acridid grasshopper of the 

 genus Chrologonus, which has been referred to on several occasions in these 



