No. 1. ] Mucdlaneous Notes. 33 



Specimens of the Rosy pastor (Pastor roseus) were forwaided (Sth Sept(-mber 1891) 

 by Dr. F. Chaiid, Civil Surgeon, Gujraiiwala, as very effectual in destroying locusts. 



The Deputy Commission (-r, Dera Ismail Khan, wrote (1st yeptember 1891) that 

 Sanch is believed to be the Yusafzai-Paslitu for a starling known as Tilliar in Hindi 

 and Sirokka in Pashtu. He noted that the biid eats, or rather destroys, locusts in 

 a most voracious manner. 



On 7tli October 1891 spetimens of the Sanch bird, said to have destroyed a large 

 number of locusts in the ISannu district, were forwarded to the Indian Museum by the 

 Director of Land Records and Agriculture, Punjab. They were identified by Mr. VV, 

 L. Sdater as belonging to the species Pastor roseus Linn. (Rosy pastor). 



The Acting Deputy Comuiissioner of Thar and Parkar, Sind, reports (21st Dec' 

 ember 1891) that the ^/'o^uari birds have very materially assisted in clearing the district 

 of locusts. 



The Deputy Commissioner, Lahore, notices that the Naib Muhafiz Daftar of 

 Peshawar, informs him that Sanch is the Patlian name for the bird known in Lahore 

 as Tilliar (liosy pastor). 



A tachiiiid parasite has been disfovered which altaoks the winded 



„,,..,, , ., form of'tlie locust Acridiiim ptreqrinuiti Oliv. 



laclunid locust parasite. ' "^ 



In June l8'Jl it was reported that the locusts 

 in Sind were dying in laro-e numbers from the attack of this parasite, 

 and there is evidence also to show that it was to be found amongst locusts 

 in other places. The attempts that have been made in tlie Indian 

 Museum to rear the parasite have not as yet been very successful, and the 

 paucity of the specimens that have been sent to the Museum tends to 

 show that the parasite is scarcer than has been supposed. In any case, 

 however, the occurrence of a parasite which must necessarily cuuse the 

 death of every locust it attacks, is of interest, as the species may at any 

 time increase so as to become a most effectual check upon the multipli- 

 cation of the locusts, and in this case it would be a very valuable ally as 

 it attacks the winged locusts, which are just the ones that are most dilii- 

 cult to deal with by artificial methods. The habits of the parasite have 

 only been partially traced as yet, but what has been observed corresponds 

 so closely with the habits that obtain amongst other members of the 

 same group of insects that we may safely infer the remainder. 



The parasite is a two-winged dy, not unlike a very large housefly. 

 It is related to the Tryeolyga bomhycis Beeher, which attacks silk worms 

 in Bengal. Like other Taehinids it no doubt deposits its eggs upon the 

 locust's body, and the grubs that have been found attached to the muscles 

 in the thoracic cavity of the locust are no doubt the ones that have 

 hatched out from these eggs and tunnelled their way through the tissues. 

 The grubs that have been found are white legless larvae about the size 

 of large grains of boiled rice. They have their anterior end pointed and 

 armed with a pair of sharp mandibles. When iuU-grown they no doubt 

 cut their way out of the locust's body and make their way into the ground, 

 where they transform into little brown bean-shaped pupae, and in this 

 state they lie until the bean-shaped pupal case splits and the fly emerges 

 realy to seek a mate and to lay eggs of its own. 



c 



