No. 5. J Notes on the Oviposition of llclopellis Ihelvora. 37 



mences feeding- on the young shoots, and is propagated throughout the 

 year, being observed in Darjeeling to be worst about September and 

 October. This seems natural, as, during each successive brood, the in- 

 dividuals multiply until the cold weather comes, which, without doubt, 

 kills off many, and others, in their supposed dormant state, fall easy vic- 

 tims to their persecutors, leaving a scattered minority to reproduce their 

 species in the spring. Tnese conjectures 1 have not however been able to 

 verify yet. 



I am not able to recommend any exterminator for the pest. Expense 

 of picking off the insects makes it prohibitive to do so. Syringing with 

 some sticky substance such as a cheap preparation made from the gums 

 of some jungle trees might be tried after a flush had been taken off. I am, 

 however, of opinion that nothing that has as yet been suggested can be 

 looked upon as an extermiuator. Mr. Playfair's recent experiments witli 

 sulphur tend to verify what Mr. Christison and his employer long have 

 known, viz., that red spider blight is prevented for at least two seasons 

 by the proper application o£ it ; but that, however disinclined mosquito 

 blight may be to feed on the sulphured leaves, they are not killed by 

 it, and will simply fly off to " fresh lields and pastures new " until the 

 sulphur has been washed away. Mr. Playfair shows the effect of strong 

 heat or sunshine on a sulphured mosquito blight insect, but he is appa- 

 rently oblivious of the fact that it avoids sunshine as much as possible, 

 and therefore would be protected to a great extent from the action of the 



Geuus ? differs fi-om Helopeltis {Signovet) in having the first joint of the anten- 

 nse short, not so long as the head and piouotum ; second and third joints moderately 

 long; second longest ; fourth joint short: scutellum without spine. 



sp? $ : Orange red; abdomen broad and concave on the upper side, un- 

 marked; head transverse, short : ejes black and promineut : rostrum paler orange, 

 tiiickened for the basal third of its length, rather short, reaching just bejoud the coxoe 

 of the anterior legs when folded beneath : antennse almost the same length as the whole 

 body ; first joint thickened, short, reddish ; second long ; third shorter than second ; 

 fourth short, all three black: pronotum and scutellum unmarked, orange red, the for- 

 mer lengthened, forming a rather long neck, the latter triangulate : legs pale, semi- 

 hyaline yellow, barred with orange red on the femora ; the bases of the tibia also 

 reddish: hemelytra with the basal two-thirds corneous and orange red, with a 

 triangular black spot on the costa ; the apical third fuscous, hyaline with a discal 

 nervure orange; wings fuscous with the bases transparent, costal anddiscocellular 

 nervures reddish. The hemelytra project far beyoud the abdomen longitudiuaily. 

 Total length of insect $ i% of an inch. 



The female only differs from the male in being slightly paler in colour and in the 

 underside of the abdomen having a curved, cerneous, black, shiny ovipositor rising, 

 as in R. ihelvora (Waterhouse) from the centre of the sixth segment and reaching to 

 the eighth. The fertilised ? is streaked with whitish on the under side of the abdo- 

 men- Total length, ? t% <» si oC an inch. 



