60 Indian Mxiseum Notes. [ Yo], HI. 



In January 189j) live chrysalids of an insect found feeding on tur 



{Cajanus indicus) were forwarded to the Indian 



„ , iMuseum bv the Settlement Omcer, Lhhindwara. 



Hiibn. ■' _ ' 



Two moths emerged in the Museum and proved to 

 belong to the destructive Noctuid Heliofhis armigera, Hiibn., which 

 has been referred to in numerous phices in these Notes. One of the 

 chr} salids was found to be parasitized by a Tachinid related to the 

 species Trycolyga homhi/cis, Beeher, but differing from this species both 

 in the arrangement of the frontal bristles and also in wing veining. 



The following is a report subsequently forwarded by the Settlement 

 Officer upon the subject : — 



" The eggs are, I believe, laid on tte under-side of tlie leaf, for one taicli of eggs 

 of some sort was so found, and close to them a young caterpillar, which seemed to 

 he of the same kind as the other carterpillars infesting the plant. 



" The caterpillar is smooth, softi and either green or brown in colour. It feeds 

 by day. It eats chiefly the pea. First it gnaws through the outer y od — a process 

 which takes a good deal of time, about an hour. Then it inserts part of its body and 

 eats the pea. To get into the next compartment it does not gnaw through the parti- 

 tion, but works from the outside again. Sometimes only one comp irtment of a pod is 

 eaten into. Occasionally the leaf is eaten. The caterpillar is unusually common 

 this year. Tt has been known for a long time. The cultivators are not aware of its 

 transformations. They have observed that the appearance of the caterpillar in numbers 

 coincides with cloudy weather. The only attempt to get rid of the caterpillars is, 

 when the cultivator has spare time, to shake the bushes and collect the fallen caterpil- 

 lars in a basket ; the caterpillars are not killed but turned out into the ground some 

 little way from the field, so that many probably find their way to another tur field. 

 The cultivators think that the caterpillars die when they disappear from the tur 

 plants. 



'* The specimens sent are from caterpillars kept until by leaving the brauches and 

 wandering rapidly off they seemed ready to burrow. They were then allowed to bur- 

 row in earth kept in an earthen pot. Owing to the jolting of the earth in the pot 

 and to clnmsy handling the specimens may, I fear, be imperfect. The caterpillar on 

 burrowing turns round and round, dog-fashion, until its chamber is made. The man 

 who removed the chrysalides from the earth says that their chambers were not lined 

 in any way. " 



In December 1892 some caterpillars were forwarded to the Museum 



Wheat caterpillars. ^J ^^^ ^^^'^ Commissioner, Bet.d, Central Pro- 



vinces^ who wrote : ' They appeared in this 



district about a month ago and are doing enormous damage to the young 



wheat. " The specimens proved to be Noctues larvae, but the material 



was insufficient for the identification of the species. 



Similar specimens were forwarded in January 1893 by the Deputy 

 Commissioner, Chhindwara, and from these a single moth emerged in the 

 Museum on the 27th February. The species proved to be new to the 



