Uq. 4. ] Miscellaneous Notes. 205 



Through the Director of Agriculture, North -Western Provinces, have 

 been received specimens of insects said to be known 

 as gadhao, which feed on the leaves of the young 

 indigo plant and which are reported to have caused considerable 

 injury in the Middle and Lower Doab this year, the insects being 

 also said to feed largely on the leaves of carrots and cabbages. The 

 specimens proved to belong to two species of Acridid orthoptera ; the 

 first is a species of Chrotogonus which has been forwarded on several 

 occasions to the Museum as injurious to indigo; the second cannot be 

 precisely determined in Calcutta and is being sent to Europe for com- 

 parison with type specimens. 



Through the Director of Agriculture, Assam, has been received a 

 The Rice Sapper, Lep- report, dated 17th September, by the subdi visional 

 tocorisa acuta. officer, Karimganj, Sylhet, accompanied by paddy 



ears with empty husks, the grain having apparently altogether failed 

 to develop, owing to its having been attacked when immature by 

 Leptocorisa acuta (the rice sapper). The following is an extract from 

 the report : — 



"I cannot obtain specimens now, and have not examined the insect so closely as 

 to be able to describe it in detail and by means of technical terms, but I find it to be 

 tbe insect described as the Eice Sapper (I,eptocorisa acuta) in page 1 of the Notes. 

 Its form is reproduced in pi. 1, figure 1, attached, but its size is smaller than that 

 shewn in figure (b). It is of a greenish colour and not spotted. It emits a most 

 offensive smell, similar to, but more intense than, that of household bugs. The offen- 

 sive odour is very persistent on anything which the insect touches. Insects of pre- 

 cisely the same nature are called gandhis ; they seem to obtain the name ' mohua ' when 

 they attack the dhan fields. Gandhis are more or less common every year. 



"2. The insect settles on the rice before it hardens into grain, and sucks out the 

 milky juice, leaving dry husks only. The effect on dhan can be seen from the dhan 

 which I sent in along with my letter No. 1143, dated 5th September last. 



" 3. The insects attack only murali and aus dhan, about the months of July and 

 August. It is said they appear when there is a sudden stop of rain after a continuous 

 fall and the sun comes hot and bright. I cannot find that any remedy has been tried 

 to stop their depredations. 



" 4. I have been unable to procure eggs or obtain any information of its life- 

 history." . 



Specimens of Leptocorisa acuta have also been forwarded from the 

 Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet, where the insect was said to have done 

 considerable damage to rice in the latter part of the rains. 



The following also, which appeared in the Ceylon Observer of 4th 

 November on the subject of the rice sapper, is of interest : — 



"We have received from Mr. Drieberg, Superintendent of the School of Agricul- 

 ture, the following response to queries of ours : — 



"'I am sorry that my teachers cannot supply the Sinhalese and Tamil names of the 



