The Tea mseds of hulia. 



Attempts have recently been made in Europe to destroy tlie grulis 

 of an allied insect by inoculatin<5 them with the spores of a fnngoid 

 disease to which they are subject. This method of treatment, however, 

 has not hitherto yielded any practical results, so cannot be recommended. 

 In the ease of a species which attacks the roots of vines in Europe, 

 bisulphide of carbon is said to have been used with some success, but 

 the writer is not in a position to say whether it is iikely to be of any 

 use in India. The simplest method of applying it is said to have been 

 to make a hole near the main root of the vine by forcing a small stick 

 into the earth, then to pour about half a t(a!=pconful of bisulphide of 

 carbon into the liole, and plug it with earth pressed down by the foot, 



Chrysomet.id^. 



Diapromorpha, melanopus, Lacord — (Oi-.mge beetle). Thi-4 

 in?ect has been reported from Sibsagar, Assam, as eating ihe slems 

 of tea shoots, so that they wither and droop [vide ladiun JUuseum 

 NoieS) Vol. I, p. 106). It is bright orange yellow in colour, and has 

 hence been dubbed the *' Oranjic beetle," 



Tine wood-cut shows the beatlc as it appeal's from above and als© 

 from the side, both enlarged, also much magnified diagrams of the 

 antenna and of one of the legs. The size of the insect in nature is 

 indicated by the hair lines which show the length measured from the 

 head to the posterior portions of the elytra. 



The species is a common one in In lia. The Indian IMuseum possesses 

 specimens from Sikkim, Sibsagar, Birbhum, Murshedabad, Sahibganj^ 

 Calcutta, and Malda. It belongs to a family of leaf- feeding beetles, so any 

 damage that it may do will no doubt be of the nature of defoliation. 

 Nothing seems to have been recorded in India upon the subject of its 

 transformations. From what is known of otlier species of the same 

 family, it may he expected that the eggs are laid upon the leaves, that 

 the larvae are active little creatures which feed upon the foliage, even- 

 tually transforming, in some sheltered corner, into stationary pupse from 

 which the beetles ultimately emerge. These points, however, require 

 corroboration. It would be useful also to ascertain the period spent by 

 the insect in its various stages of developnaent at different times of the 



