56 



Indian Museum Notes. 



[Vol. IV. 



NOTES ON INSECT PESTS FROM THE ENTOMO- 

 LOGICAL SECTION, INDIAN MUSEUM. 



BY EDWARD BARLOW. 



I. TEA PESTS. 

 I. Thosea recta* , Hampsn. 



(Sub. ord. Heterocera; Fam. Limacodidse.) 



Plate V, fig. I— a, larva and cocoon on tea twig ; b, c, moths $ and 

 § ; id, I chneumonid parasite of Thosea recta^ twice enlarged. 



Aphendala recta, Hampson. 111. Het., pt. IX, p. 71, pi. 160, 



fig- 3. , 



On the 6th May 1895, Mr. E. E. Green of Punduloya, Ceylon, 

 forwarded to the Indian Museum specimens of the moth and cocoon 

 of the species Thosea recta^ Hampsn., also specimens of a Hymen- 

 opterous insect belonging to the family Ichneumonidae, said to be 

 parasitic on the caterpillars of the moth, with the information 

 that the caterpillars had proved a serious pest to tea plants in 

 Ceylon. He wrote : — " Mr. W, D. Holland, of Balaugoda, tells me 

 that it has completely defoliated the trees over several acres of tea 

 on his estate, and that the ground is quite black with their droppings. 

 Fortunately a species of Tachina * preys freely upon them, and 

 eventually reduces their numbers. Mr. Willisford, of Blackwater 

 Estate,sent me specimens,and stated that they had stripped the bushes 

 of everything but the youngest shoots over a field of 50 acres." 



The following particulars are taken from a note furnished by 

 Mr. E. E. Green : — 



Larva : Colour bright yellowish green with a quadrate saddle- 

 shaped spot occurring on the middle of the bag ; a chain of smaller 

 red spots on the median line in front, and two or three similar 

 spots behind. Oval ; convex above, a marginal and two dorsal 

 series of conical spinous tubercles. 



Cocoon, compact, oval, dull green, fixed to tea leaves or stem. 



• Not a Tachina, but a species of Ichneuinonid fly.— £. B. 



