UOi 5. ] MiHceUaneous Noies. 61 



Indian Museum collection, so was sent to London, where it has been 

 examined by Mr. G. F. Hampson, who identifies \X ^% Leucan'ia fragiliit^ 

 I'utler. The following is the report furnished by the Deputy Comniis 

 sioner of Chhiudwara : — 



Note on the Sawardehi caterfillar. — " Tliis caterpillar Las appeared in th'- 

 Chhindwara District in increasing rurobers for the last three years. It is said that 

 it had not been seen before for 30 or 40 years, and the country people suppose its 

 appearance to be connected in some way with the flights of locusts that have passed 

 over the district in recent years. It appeared this year in large numbers in the 

 adjoining district of Betul, but apparently nowhere else in the provinces. 



"It begins operations as soon as the young wheat is out of the ground, and 

 always attacks fields lying on the edge of jungle or waste land. Two or three, or 

 sometimes ten or a dozen, rows of wheat are eaten clean away, but the caterpillar 

 seldom penetrates to the middle of fields of any size. In the day time they may be 

 found huddled together under stones and clods of earth along the edge of the field. 



"Asa rule thej" attack nothing but wheat and that only before it is in ear. I have 

 been told of damage done by them to kutki (Panicum josilo pod turn), but have never 

 seen a field showing signs of it. 



"The damage threatened this year to be serious and the cultivators began taking 

 defensive measures. — irrigating the edges of exposed fields, and digging pits for 

 collecting and burning the c.iterpillars. But this was resented by the ' garpagaris ' 

 (professional hail averters and general medicine-men), and the damage was allowed to 

 go on unchecked until the caterpillars were destroyed or driven back to the jungle by 

 a heavy fall of rain in January. 



" Unfortunately as soon as they disappeared the people lost all interest in them, 

 and I have not been able to trace their further developaieut, nor can I give any 

 explanation of the origin of their name. " 



lu response to further inquiries instituted through the kindness of 

 the Commissioner of Settlements and Agriculture in the Central Pro- 

 vinces the following additional report, dated 18th March 1893, was 

 furnished by the Settlement Officer, Chhindwara : — 



797 



'•' With reference to your letter No. j^. dated 14th instant, forwarding a copy of 

 a letter from Mr. Cotes, I regret to say that it seems to be impossible to obtain chry. 

 salides. The brood has hatched out, and I can only find the cases. One specimen 

 was found but seems to be dead. 



" The scanty information gathered is as follows : — 



"The caterpillar was only found on the edge of fields where the soil is shallow and 

 comparatively dry. The chief damage was to wheat fields which adjoin a plot of 

 stony shallow land. The caterpillar began at the edge and worked towards the centre 

 of the field. The crop was cleared almost entirely off the ground, only a few scattered 

 stalks remaining ; the caterpillar worked by night and lay up by day in the crevices 

 of the light soil. On the point to which Mr. Cotes attaches importance, viz., whether 

 the caterpillar is a "cut worm" or not, I regret that I can give no information of 

 value. Neither the cultivators nor I noticed in hunting out the caterpillars anv 

 traces of fodder carried off by them to their lurking places, but the fact that untrained 

 observers did not notice the fact does not go far to disprove the fact. 



