No. I.] Rhynchota. 5 



appears to subsist upon the juices of the flowers, young leaves, and young shoots of 

 the mango. I dare say you know the insect I mean. It is a small, dark-coloured 

 wedge-shaped insect, provided with wings, but it cannot fly far, as, when disturbed, it 

 flies about among the leaves for a few seconds and immediately settles upon them 

 again. They are found upon the mango all summer, but do most harm, when the 

 trees are in flower by damaging the reproductive organs, and thus causing interference 

 with the setting of the fruit. I have tried mixtures of soap, tobacco, sulphur, kerosine 

 diluted with milk, &c, upon them, but without noticeable effect. We have not had 

 many of them this year, but there are a few upon some of the trees and quite suffi- 

 cient of them to experiment with. Last year, and the year before, we had them in 

 myriads, and both these seasons we had light crops of fruit, but this year a fine crop has 

 set, and this I attribute to the comparative absence of these insects. I once sent it to 

 the Agri-Horticultural Society to be named. Mr. Blechynden, the Deputy Secre. 

 taryof the Society, sent it on to a Mr. F. Moore, of Penge, and he pronounced it to 

 be a cicadid belonging to the genius Jassus, but he did not seem to be able to give a 

 more definite name for it. If j r ou have not examined this insect I shall send you some 

 in spirit." 



To this letter the following reply was given by the assistant in charge 

 o£ the Entomological section of the Museum: — 



"Mr. Blechynden, of the Agri-Horticultural Society, some time since made over to 

 me some of your specimens of the mango cicadid, which you say injures the reproduc- 

 tive organs of the flowers. I am interested to hear of the failure of soap, tobacco, sul- 

 phur, and kerosine and the milk mixtures on it. 



" With regard to the Buhach, I am not aware of any place where it can at present 

 be obtained in India, but I applied to the Buhach Company in California about six 

 weeks ago with reference to its introduction, and if any of the insecticide is sent to 

 me in time to be of service, I will at once forward some to you. 



" I feel, however, very doubtful myself as to whether the Buhach would be'of much 

 use against this bug : it seems to be generally useful against soft-bodied insects, such as 

 caterpillars, only. 



"Kerosine and soap solution or milk seems to be the most promising application. 

 You say ' kerosine diluted with milk ' was a failure ; I wonder if the mixture was churned 

 into a kind of butter before it was diluted with water and sprayed on to the trees ; 

 otherwise some parts of the trees would be pretty certain to get sprayed with pure 

 milk and water and a very small area with pure kerosine. It is worth noticing that a 

 stronger wash is often effective when a weaker one fails, and kerosine and soap solu- 

 tion seems to be generally more effective than kerosine and milk." 



The insects were sent by Mr. Atkinson to M. Lethierry, of Lille, who 

 pronounced them to be new to science and has named the three species 

 discovered Idiocerus clypealis, iiiveosparsus, and atkinsoni, respectively. 

 The descriptions will appear in the Journal, Asiatic Society, and in a 

 future number of these notes. In the meantime, it is desirable that steps 

 should be taken during the ensuing season to investigate their life-history 

 more thoroughly. Mr. E. Cotes suggests that a further trial should b e 

 given to kerosine emulsion, which should be thoroughly churned and 

 applied in a very fine spray, as suggested for scale insects (p. 7) ; and 

 also that an attempt should be made to ascertain where the insect lays 

 its eggs and what becomes of it during the greater part of the year when 

 the mango trees are not in flower. 



