54 Indian Mjiseum Notes. [ Yol. HI. 



Specimens of an insect which forms galls upon the spruce fir [Ahies 

 Smithiana) in the Noith-Western Himalayas were 



^"^ ' forwarded to the Museum in July 1893 by Mr. 



A. Smythies. The gall consists of an abnormal growth of the terminal 

 shoot which becomes superficially much like a small fir cone. The 

 insect is either identical with, or very closely allied to, the Aphid Cher- 

 mes coccineus, Ratz., which attacks fir trees in a very similar manner in 

 Europe. Specimens have been forwarded to Europe for comparison with 

 this form. 



At Deobau (9,200 feet above sea-level) Mr. Smythies observed the 

 mergence of the winged imago on the 21st July. In the months of 

 May and June immature specimens only were to be found. 



I'osf script. '-■The specimens have since been examined by Mr. G. B, 

 Buckton, F.R.S., who identifies them as belonging to the species C/iermes 

 ahietis of Lianseus and Kaltenbach, A full account of the habits o£ 

 this insect may be found in Mr. Buckton's masterly work upon British 

 Aphides, Vol. IV, pp. 24i-33. The species is new to the Fauna oE India. 



Some Aphids found upon the under surface of tea shoots were for- 

 ^ . ,., warded in March 1893 through the Chemical 



Adviser to the Indian Tea Association from a tea 

 garden in Assam. The specimens arrived in too poor a state of preser- 

 vation for precise identification, but are likely to belong to the species 

 Ceylonia tleaecoh, Buckton, described and figured in these Notes, Vol. 

 II, pp. 34 and 35. 



Similar specimens were received in August 1893 from Caehar, 

 through the Editor of the Asian. In this case tiie insect was described 

 as found only on the young shoots of indigenous tea, its effect being to 

 cause the leaf to shrivel up and turn black. 



In December 1893 a good deal of damage was occasioned in the 

 compound of the Presidency Jail, Calcutta, by 

 Aphidse, which attacked cabbage, radish, and other 

 cold weather vegetables, killing of£ the seedlings and threatening the 

 supply for the convicts. Specimens furnished by Mr. P. Donaldson 

 were found to be either identical with or very closely allied to the com- 

 mon European form Aphis hrassica, Linn., which has been referred to 

 in these Notes as attacking the mustard plant in BMigxl. 



