14 



Indian Muspuni Nofes. 



[ Vol. III. 



to slielter themselves, picldng' off and burning tlie affected shoots, and 

 white-washing the trunks, mightalsobe of some use, butasyet too little 

 is known about the insect to warrant, any very definite suo-o-estions for 

 dealing with it. The figures show the winged insect, with much enlarged 

 diagrams of tbe wings, head and one of the legs, also the end of a mango 

 twig with aborted shoots. The size of the insect is indicated by the 

 hair line. 



In November 1891 some young linseed [Linutn iisitatissimnm) plants 

 Linseed caterpillars in Were forwarded to the Museum by the Super- 

 Nagpur. intendentof the Government Farm, Nagpur, 



with the information that they had been dyijig off in an unaccountable 

 manner. A similar blight had been noticed the preceding year, and in 

 some fields had very materially reduced the outturn of the crop. A careful 

 examination of the plants that were forwarded disclosed, a number of 

 minute caterpillars which were located in the j'oung shoots at the top of the 

 plants. They were far too immature for precise identification, and ail that 

 could be made out was that they were much like very young larvse of the 

 j!^oGi\xQsxr\oi\\ Hcliothis arrmgerajwKxch^ is a very generally distril)uted 

 pest in India. There is some doubt as to whether these caterpillars are 

 sufficient to account for the dying off of the plants. The insect could no 

 doubt be easily destroyed by spraying the plants with almost anv 

 insectcide, though this is a form of treatment which has not yet been 

 much adopted in India. 



From the Secretary to the Agri.-Horticultural Society of India were 



„ . , „ ,., received (6fch July 1891) specimens in differ- 



ent stages of development of a Bruchid which 



attacks thp sped of the Tamarind tree {Tarn arin dun indica) in Calcutta. 



Tlie insect was submitted to 

 Mons. A. Fauvel, who has 

 kindly examined it and reports 

 that it belongs tc the species 

 Caryoborus {Bruchus) gonagra.^ 

 Fabr. M. Fauvel calls atten- 

 tion to a paper by H. L. Elditt, 

 entitled " Die metamorphose 

 des Caryoborus [Bruchus) 

 govagra ¥." Gratulationschr. 

 der Fhys. (Ek. Gesellsch. H. 

 Rathke, Kouigsberg, 1860, 

 dealing with this insect. This 

 paper is not to be found in 



This is pvobably the insect referred to bv Dr. H. Cb ghorn (Journ. Agri-Hort. Soc , 

 India, Vol. XIV, p. 294, 1867), as infecting taiaarind soed. 



