No. 1.] Miscellaneous Notes. 23 



In April 1894 the same officer reported, through the Director, 

 Caterpillar destructive Land Records and Agriculture, Bengal, the 

 to cress. appearance of innumerable black larvae in a 



plot of cress in the Berhampur Jail garden. 



The specimens forwarded to the Museum proved to be insufficient 

 for precise identification, but they appeared to be the larvae of a 

 Pyralid moth. The Deputy Collector reports that the following 

 remedy was applied successfully, and that every caterpillar was found 

 dead in the morning after its application : — 



" Four ounces of kerosine oil was thoroughly shaken up with four ounces of 

 sour-milk and mixed with ten seers of water. The application of this mixture to 

 the plants was done with an Eclair vaporiser. Evening was chosen for this 

 application to avoid too quick evaporation of the liquid." 



In April 1894 the same officer, through the Director, Land Records 



and Agriculture, Bengal, reported that the 

 London Purple. i- .• c i j Ti ^ ^ 



application 01 London rurple as a remedy 



against the caterpillars of the cosmopolitan moth Agrotis suffusa 

 had proved successful in the case of an attack on seedling cauliflow- 

 ers in the jail garden at Berhampur in September last. He writes :— 



" One ounce of London Purple was mixed with one ounce of unslaked lime and 

 three pounds of ashes. The three substances were powdered together very fine, put 

 in a thin calico bag and dusted over the plants, the soil round them having been 

 previously loosened." 



RHOPALOSIPHUM DIANTHI, Schrank. 



Plate III, Fig. 3, a apterous viviparous female, b pupa, c winged viviparous 



female. 



In April 1894 the Deputy Collector on special duty, Berham- 

 pur, reported injury to a small extent to rape crops near his dis- 

 trict by insects. Specimens of the pest were forwarded to the 

 Indian Museum through the Director, Land Records and Agricul- 

 ture, Bengal. These were found to consist of specimens of plant-lice 

 (Aphid), which, however, proved to be new to the Indian Museum 

 collection. Specimens were subsequently submitted to Mr. 

 G. B. Buckton, who kindly examined them^ and identified them to be 

 the same as the common pest that injures rape crops in Europe, 

 namely, Rhopalosiphum dianthty Schrank. 



The following account of the insect is taken from Mr. G. B. 

 Buckton's Monograph of the British Aphides, Volume II, page 15 :— 



" Rhopalosiphum, dianthi, Schrank. 



Aphis dianthi^ Schr., Kalt., Walk. 



. persicx, Puceron du pecker, Morren, 



