48 The Tea insects of India. 



(4) WiDged males and females. The males and females fly out 

 of the nest in clouds, generally after rain. Those of them 

 that escape their num erous enemies are said to drop their 

 wings and copulate. The female cither finds her way 

 back to the original nest or starts a fresh nest for herself. 

 Her abdomen grows by distention of the membranes between 

 the ehitinous plates, until she beoonnes like a sausage, two 

 or three inches lone, with a minute head and thorax at one 

 end {vide first figure). Queens in several stages of devel- 

 opment may sometimes be found in a single nest. The 

 figure above, to the right, shows a young queen shortly after 

 dropping her wings and before the abdomen has grown very 

 much. The figure is somewhat larger than life, the natural 

 size being indicated by a hair line at the side. Below is a 

 figure of one of the winged forms, natural size. 



Various suggestions for dealing with white ants in tea gardens are 

 given by Bamber in his work on the Chemistry and Agriculture of Tea, 

 pages 254 and 255. 



ACARINA (MITES). 



Teranychus bioculatus, W. M. (Red spider). This mite, pre- 

 viously known to tea planters under the name of *'red spider,'^ was de- 

 scribed by Mr. Wood-Mason in his Report on the Tea Mite and Tea Bug of 

 Assam, 1884. It has since been identified by that careful observer 

 Mr. E. E. Green ^ as belonging to the same species as the " red spider '^ 

 of the coffee tree, described many years previously by Nietner^ under the 

 name Acarus cqffece. 



Unlike both '' mosquito blighf and *' green By blight,'' the red spider 

 of the tea plant chiefly confines its attack to the mature leaves. It is 



' Insect Fests of the Tea Plant, No. 7. 



* Ohsertations on the Natural JBistory of the Enemies of the Coffee Tree in Ceylon. 



