46 Indian Economic Etitomology. [ l/^ol. II. 



in both cases in too poor a state of preservation for precise identification ; 

 (3) the common acridid o'rasshopper {Chro tog onus, sp.) said to do consi- 

 derable injury to wheat, barley, linsBed, and rapeseed, appearing' in June 

 or July and dying off about December, no means being known of destroy- 

 ing it ; (4) caterpillars of the butterfly, Mnncipmm nepalensis, Grey 

 (Rhopalocera, Pierinse), said to attack gram, Turia, linseed, sugarcane 

 and garden vegetables, such as radishes, the only known preventive 

 being ashes, which, in some cases, are thrown over the plants. 



From the agent of the Lyall Farm, Budaon, have been received ; — (1) 

 caterpillars of a Noctues moth said to attack 

 Budaon pes s. ^^^^^ crops, such as mustard, barley, safflower, 



and wheat; (2) an Acridid grasshopper belonging to the genus, Chroto- 

 qomis, said to have done such extensive injury to indigo as to have 

 seriously interfered with the cultivation and manufacture of the drug in 

 the district. The grasshopper .ippears in April and May in large numbers 

 in the indigo fields, and destroys the young plants by biting them off 

 as soon as they appear above the ground; it continues to be found in 

 laro'C numbers up to the end of August, and gradually disappears about 

 November. When the rainfall is deficient in July, it also does much 

 injury to kharif crops, such as Mash {Phaseolns radiatus), Bajra [Peni- 

 cillaria spicato) , Til [Sesamum ?'?ir//(?w?;'i(), and Lobia {Vigna catiang). 



From the Settlement Officer, Koojang estate, Orissa, were received, in 

 February 1890, Noctues caterpillars known 

 locally as Kala mundi, and said often to do 

 much injury to rabi crops growing on tracts subject to inundation, 

 sometimes also attacking rice. The insect appears :>n rabi crops in the 

 early part of the cold weather, and spins a web over the leaves and 

 flowers* it feeds chiefly on the flowers and disappears as soon as these 

 die off. Specimens submitted for examination prove to be the cater- 

 niUars of a Noctues moth, which cannot at present be precisely detei- 

 tninei without an examination of the moth. Specimens therefore either 

 of the moth itself or of the live chrysalides, which can be reared in the 

 Museum, should be furnished. 



The Settlement Officer also reports that in 18s7 insects much like 

 locusts, but green in colour, with longitudinal black stripes, appeared 

 just after the flowering season of the paddy, and did great damage to the 

 crop by cutting off the ears, the outturn being said to have been dimi- 

 nished by about half, 



The Collector of Hooghly reports (letter dated 12th February 1891) 

 much mischief to the mustard crop by an 

 insect which proves to be one of the Aphides 



