94 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



mention j also the absence of the various Sphingid larvae, and their 

 pupae, which infest potatoes, sweet potatoes and tobacco. The corn 

 worm (larva of Heliothis armigera) is here especially mentioned be- 

 cause it is said that the Crows pull out and injure the ears of corn 

 only for the purpose of getting at the corn worms. This species has 

 not been recognized, but it is possible that a few specimens are 

 among the unidentifiable Noctuid larvae. 



In the Diptera the most injurious species is the Hessian fly [Ceci' 

 domyia destructor), but the small size of the larvae and pupae, as 

 well as their mode of occurrence, make it improbable that the Crows 

 ever feed upon this insect, and no trace of them were found in the 

 stomachs. The beneficial Diptera, z'/s., larvae of Syrphidae, and the 

 family Tachinidae are absent. 



The complete, or almost complete, absence of the injurious 

 Heteroptera forms a very striking feature. In all the stomachs 

 examined only a single specimen of the notorious chinch bug {Blissus 

 leucopterus) was found, and unless we assume that this insect is too 

 small, no explanation is offered why the Crow does not feed exten- 

 sively upon the chinch bug, which possesses a strong odour and is 

 more or less terrestrial in its habits. Excepting the Soldier bugs 

 (Pentatomidae), the insectivorus species of Heteroptera are hardly 

 represented, the Phymatidse are entii'ely absent (no doubt on account 

 of their non-terrestrial mode of life), and of the Reduviidae only a 

 few specimens of a terrestrial species were found. 



In the Homoptera the stomachs submitted for examination offered 

 no opportunity for ascertaining whether or not the Crow feeds exten- 

 sively upon the periodical Cicada, but from the fact that in a small 

 number of stomachs pupae and imagos of another species of Cicada 

 were found, as well as from previous records and observations, there 

 can be no doubt that this insect is not refused. The more or less 

 injurious leaf hoppers (families Jassidae, Cercopi dae, Fulgoridae:, 

 Membracidae), many species of which are frequently found, on or 

 at least near the ground, are not represented in the stomachs 

 (excepting a single larva of a Fulgorid). 



The only beneficial (insectivorous) family among the Orthoptera, 

 vis.y the Mantidae, is represented in our Fauna by only a few species, 

 and none have been found in the stomachs. 



No specimens of white ants (Termitidae), the only injurious 

 family of the old order Neuroptera, occurred in the stomachs, while 

 of the eminently beneficial families, only a single specimen of a 

 mosquito hawk ( i^schnidae ) and a single specimen of a lacewing 

 fly ( Hemerobidae ) were found. 



