Preface. 3 



of similarly Uhelul results, Cipeeially where sucU valuable crops as les*^ 

 indigo, and coffee are concerned. 



The following repoit is intended to show the stage which the inquiry- 

 has reached in the case of the lea plant. It has been drawn up with a 

 view both to facilitate reference to what has already been ascertained, 

 and also to indicate the directions in which furtlier research is desirable. 



The record of the inquiries conducted in the Indian Museum has been 

 kept in the pages of the periodical Indian Museum Notes. The report, 

 therefore, is chiefly bafed upon this j)ublication, supplemented where 

 possible from the papers of other observers who have frequently been 

 in communication with the present writer upon the subject of their 

 inquiries. 



Amongst works from which help has been received, special reference 

 may be made to an admirable series of papers by Mr. E. E. Green, 

 originally publisiied in nineteen instalments in the Ceijlon hidepenchnt 

 in 1889. In these papers Mr. Green describes his observations on a 

 number of species which attack the tea plant in Ceylon. Most of the 

 insects he describes have also been recorded from India, and are therefore 

 discussed fully in the following pages. Others again have not hitherto 

 been recorded from India, so are merely alluded to briefly, the reader 

 being referred for further particulars regarding them to Mr. Green's 

 work, which should be in the hands of all interested in the subject. 



In his recent work on the Chemistry and Agriculture of Tea, 

 Calcutta, 1893, Mr. M, K. Bamber makes a number of suggestions, 

 many of them of much practical value, for dealing with the various 

 blights which attack the tea plant. The chapter which he devotes to the 

 matter is arranged on the same plan as that adopted in the present 

 report, his remarks, indeed, upon the entomology of the subject being in 

 many cases transcribed from Indian Musenm Notes. His recommenda- 

 tions, therefore, can easily be consulted by those concerned and, as his 

 work will no doubt be in the hands of most Indian tea planters, it has 

 been considered unnecessary to do more than refer to it in this place. 



[When not otherwise acknowledged the figures in the following re- 

 port have been drawn from the specimens by native artists in the Indian 

 Museum, the majority being the work of Babu G. C, Chuckrabutty. 

 Many of them have previously appeared in illustration of papers by the 

 writer in the pages of Indian Museum Notes. With two exceptions 

 the wood-cuts have been prepared by Messrs. West, Newman & Co., of 

 London. 



Owing to his absence from India the writer has been unable to revise 

 llie final proofs of this report; it is hoped, however, that the typo- 

 graphical errors which escape correction will not be of importance.] 



B 2 



