33 



Indian Economic Enlomologij. 



[Vol. 11. 



thus weakening- the young paddy plants and decreasing- the outturn of 

 rice. No practicable remedy is at present known for it. 



The Curculionid destructive to the seed of Strohilanthus pectinatus 



Strobilanthus Weevil. 



{kibu) in Sikkim has 

 been determined hy 

 Mons. Desbrochers de 

 Loges, as a new species 

 of Apion, which he 

 names Apion strohi~ 

 lanthi. The kibu is a 

 herbaceous weed which 

 grows at an elevation 

 of about 6,000 feet in 

 Sikkim and is used for 

 fodder. In the rains 

 of 1889 the only plant 

 which was observed by 

 Mr. Gilbert Rogers to flower, had the whole of its seeds destroyed by 

 this insect. (Tlie figure shows the insect with its antenna (much en- 

 larged), also a hibu pod attacked by it). 



From the Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens, Bangalore, were 

 Cotton pests in Seringapatam. received in March 1890 speci- 



mens of the heteropterons insect 

 Oxycareiius lugubris, Mostch., of 

 the family Lygseiuse, said to 

 have proved injurious to cotton 

 in Seringapatam, where, in the 

 early stages of the growth of 

 the plant, fumigating with 

 tobacco had been found effica- 

 cious in keeping down the pest. 

 This insect has previously been 

 reported as injurious in Ceylon, 

 where it infests the ripe cotton 

 pods and discolours and cakes 

 the cotton. Nothing further is 

 known of its habits. The cotton 

 was also said to suffer from the 



