112 Indian Economic Entomology. [Vol. I. 



XL—INSECTICIDES. 



Mr. W. Gollan, tbe Superintendent of the Government Botanical 

 Gardens, Saharaupur, North-Western Provinces, 

 reports as follows on some of the London Purple 

 Insecticide, sent to the Indian Museum for experiment by Messrs. Hem- 

 ingway & Co., of 60, Mark Lane, London, E.C., and also on a force 

 pump, similarly sent to the Indian Museum for experiment by Messrs. 

 Rumsey & Co., of Seneca Falls, New York. The pump is that described 

 as No. 267 in Messrs. Rumsey's Catalogue, and is intended for distribut- 

 ing insecticides. 



" Saharunpore, May 30th, 1S89.—I have the honour to send you the following 

 brief account of a few experiments made here with the spray pump and London Purple 

 sent me for trial. 



" I mixed the London Purple with water in the proportions named in the printed 

 directions issued by Hemingway's London Purple Company, Limited, and as a first 

 experiment sprayed it through the force pump upon a crop of hot-season cucumbers 

 attacked with a kind of flying beetle, specimens of which I am sending you in spirit. 1 

 The result, however, was disappointing, as the beetles flew away to neighbouring plots 

 of cucurbitaceous vegetables, apparently none the worse for the spraying they had 

 received. They have not since settled on the plot spraj T ed upon in the same numbers 

 as before, but they are still present ; therefore this substance cannot be considered an 

 effective insecticide for this particular kind of beetle. 



" The next experiment tried was upon the mango Cicadid, 2 and in this instance 

 the result was a complete success. Some of our mango trees were covered with 

 hundreds of thousands of this insect, but after one spraying only a few hundreds were 

 noticeable, and after a second spraying scarcely any were to be seen. I sprayed the 

 first few trees in the evening, but afterwards found it was a better plan to do this at 

 night by lamp-light. When the operation of spraying is done during day-light, the 

 insects fly before the pump and settle on neighbouring trees, but when done at night 

 they remain where they have settled, and in every instance where the London Purple 

 reached them the result appears to have been certain death. London Purple may there- 

 fore be recommended as a sure and certain insecticide for the destruction of the mango 

 Cicadid or fly. 



" The last experiment tried was upon the caterpillar 3 I previously wrote to you 

 about, and which has proved so destructive to our young-budded oranges. I do not 

 know its name, but it is the larva of a butterfly, as you surmised, and as I am sending 

 you the insect in all its stages, I have no doubt you will be able to name it. The 

 London Purple in this case was also a complete success. Owing to previous hand- 

 picking there were only a few caterpillars on the trees when sprayed upon, but the few 

 noticeable were destroyed with one application, and none have since appeared. 



" The force pump worked admirably, and is well fitted for what it is intended for. 



"I can fiud no other pests at present for further experiment, but others will appear 

 during the season, and I shall therefore continue my experiments as opportunity offers 

 aud communicate the results." 



1 The beetle proves to be Aalacophora abdominalis, Hope, which is mentioned on pages 

 64 and 68 of No. 1 of these Notes. Mr. Gollan reports it as destructive to all Cucurbitaceae . 

 a Idiocerus sp., for an account of which sec page 4 of No, 1 of these N otes. 

 8 Papilio eritkonius, for an account of which see page 9 3. 



