40 Indian Insect Pests. [Vol. I. 



t 



" My attention was first drawn to these insects, and the ravages they made amongst 

 the aus dhan, by Mr. F. W. Higgins, of Patya, a tea-planter of this district. The 

 following is an extract from a letter on the subject written by that gentleman the 

 other day to me. He writes chiefly about the Burmah cliaudali." 



Here follows + he extract quoted on page 38. 



Mr. J. R. Rainey of Khulna notes 3 that the local native name of the insect is 

 " Paruli." He wntes that it is " very destructive to the leaves of the paddy crop 

 when the plant is young and tender." The rice stalks which he sends have the 

 parenchyma of the leaves eaten away in patches, so as to make them look brown and 

 withered. 



Mr. Patrick Duff writes 2 : — 



" I kept a few insects which did a great deal of harm this year to the dhan, but 

 more particularly to the ropa, or transplanted paddy. They appeared late in June, 

 and were very plentiful in July and the beginning of August. I send you a small 

 box containing all the specimens I kept. Neither sun nor rain seemed to diminish 

 their numbers. They are said to have been seen once before 16 or 17 years ago ; some 

 persons called them ' Kal ' and others ' Mudhwa.' They devoured the tender case 

 of the dhan and laid their eggs in the upper leaves, apparently inserting the egg under 

 the outer fibre of the leaves ; or perhaps the growing insects forced their way under 

 the leaves, splitting them in two and staying inside until perfect. The ones I send 

 were in the chrysalis state when I took them out of the leaves, and I placed them in 

 a pill box. The effect of the ravages was only to temporarily check the growth of the 

 dhan. It is now looking well again. One peculiarity I noticed was that the insects 

 always attacked the western edge of the fields and worked eastwards. They were 

 literally in millions in every field." 



Baboo Doorga Churn Law, of Hooghly, notes that the insect is called SanTci : — 

 he writes s : " Small circular insects of black color ; three or four of these enter the 

 stalk and out it. It is very destructive to paddy and remains long in the field." 



Baboo Nobin Krishna Banerji of Diamond Harbour writes : 4 " Paruli insects are 

 not available this year in consequence of flood. The ryots cannot give any informa- 

 tion as to how these insects are bred." 



Mr. P. J. S. Maguire writes 5 : — 



" The sub-divisional officer of Bagirhat, and the Naib of Chandkhali (a Government 

 estate), report that it does not appear that there has been any occurrence of insect 

 pests. Both these officers report that Pavali poka damages to a certain extent the 

 rice crop. Damage is done by them both at the time of transplantation and at the 

 time when the rice is about to be reaped." 



1 In a letter dated 12th July. 



2 In a letter dated 6th September from Bhuptiabe, forwarded by the Magistrate 

 of Durbh&nga. 



3 In a letter dated 26th September 1888, forwarded by the Collector of the 24-Per- 

 gunnahs. 



* In a letter elated 1st October, forwarded by the Collector of the 24-Pergnnnahs. 

 5 In a letter dated 26th September, forwarded by the Director of Land Records and 

 Agriculture, Bengal. 



