No. 1. ] 



Miscelliiiieom Notea. 



17 



and reports that they hch)ng to tlie species Mancera qvanclu {=Tachiiict 

 (jraudis Walker, Ins. Saund. Volume I, pag-e 27<S, 1856). 



In October 1891 Mr. J. R. Cripps of Cluimparun forwarded speci- 



. p^i • o vtx^Vi^ of the beetle Ctcindela sexpuuctata 



An enemy or tlie ncc-sapper. it i i • i f ^^ 



Vwhx. which was said to devour the rice-sap- 

 per {Leptocorisa acuta Thunb.) and to be very effectual iu keeping- it 

 in check. The beetles were said to come from the buffalo dun"- which the 

 cultivators were in the habit of putting into their paddy fields with the 

 express object of rearing the insect iu order to keep down the numbers 

 of the destructive rice-sapper. It is difficult to see what connection 

 tliere could be between buffalo dung and Cicindelidse, but it is worth 

 noticing that a similar idea exists in the Punjab, where the prevalencf 

 of the Carabid beetle Calosoma orientate Hope, which proved useful in 

 destroyingyoung locusts {Acri'liam perigriiiutnO\\Y.)\n the spria<''of 1891, 

 was attributed in Kohat to the unusual quantity of the foeces of cattle 

 lef ji upon the roads, owing to the large number of transport animals which 

 had recently passed through the district to the Miranzai Expedition. 



In July 1891 a number of Dipterous larvae were forwarded to the 



Museum through the Calcutta At'ri.-Horti- 



cultural bociety, with the information that 



they had been attacking mangoes [Maugij'era iiidica) in Tirhoot. The 



larvsB were found 

 to be yellowish mag- 

 gots, about the size 

 of small grains of 

 boiled rice. They 

 had tiie pointed head 

 and truncated ab- 

 domen so common 

 amongst Dipterous 

 larvae. When liber- 

 ated from the pulp 

 of the mango they 

 progrei^sed partly by 

 crawling and j)artly 

 by gathering- the 

 head and posterior togetlier and leaping- into tlie air some four or live 

 inclies at a time. A mango in which the grubs were received was jjlaced 

 on a plate of damp earth in the Museum, and the grubs rapidly made their 

 way out and tunnelle<l into the earth. Here they remained from the iSth 



li 



