No. 2. ] Notes. 97 



largely used for this purpose, but the help of the birds is usually 



insufficient, and hand-picking has also to be resorted to for getting rid 



of the exposed caterpillars. The cultivator usually goes round his 



poppy plot in the mornings, armed with a spud, with which he digs out 



the caterpillars from the bottom of the holes, where he sees leaves and 



stalks protruding. Scott found that the pest could easily be checked 



by dusting the plants over a few times in the evenings with a mixture of 



quicklime and ashes, but the cultivators generally do not appear to 



resort to this method. With regard to the method recommended by 



Dr. Riley for cut worms in America, — that is to say, the poifoning of the 



worms by strewing leaves poisoned with London purple or Paris green 



over the field, before the crop appears above the ground, — Mr. Cockburn 



writes : — 



" I think the plan ... would be readily taken to by the cultivators, as tbe 

 system of poisoning jackals and porcupines is well understood." 



VIII.— -HELIOTHIS ARMIGERA. 



[ Plate VI, fig. 4 ; a, imago ; b, pupa; c, larvce ; all nat. size. J 



The following account of the opium pest Heliothis armigera is taken 



chiefly from Mr. John Scott's opium reports, pub- 

 The pest in India. j.^^ in w ^ jg^ 18?7 and jg^ respectively> i 



Scott describes the insect under the name of Mamestra papaverorum ; 

 specimens, however, were submitted at the time by Dr. Anderson to Mr. 

 F. Moore, who determined them as belonging to the already well-known 

 species Heliothis armigera, and the figures published by the United States 

 Entomological Commission leave no room to doubt the accuracy of Mr. 

 Moore's determination. 



When the opium poppy plants are approaching maturity small cater- 

 pillars are often found feeding upon the cuticle, and occasionally also 

 upon the margins, of the lower leaves. These caterpillars remain chiefly 

 on the under surface of the leaves — a habit which, with their leaf-like 

 color, affords them considerable security from insectivorous birds. As 

 they grow bigger the caterpillars mount to the upper leaves, and, like the 

 maturing plant, gradually assume a yellowish-brown tinge, finally be- 

 coming ash-grey in general color, marked with one dorsal and two lateral 



1 In 1878 a series of specimens of insects injurious to opium cultivation were sent to 

 the Indian Museum by Mr. John Scott, who was then in charge of the Deegah experimental 

 gardens, Behar. In his annual reports Scott gave practical accounts of these in sects, 

 but the only one of them that could at the time be determined entomologically was Helio- 

 this armigera. The orignal specimens are still in the Museum, but most of them are in too 

 poor a state of preservation to make anything of ; an account, however, of the Opium Cut 

 Worm that he describes is given on p. 95, and it is hoped, as fresh specimens are obtained and 

 further observations made, that all the insects that attack opium may be figured and de- 

 scribed, so that Scott's practical investigations may be made easily available for reference, 

 aud confusion avoided by ascertaining the designations under which the insects he notices 

 are known to entomologists. 



