ii8 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



NOTES ON INSECT PESTS FROM THE EN- 

 TOMOLOGICAL SECTION, INDIAN MUSEUM. 



BY E. BARLOW. ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



I. TEA PESTS. 



I. Acanthopsyclie (Brachycyttartis) subtercUbata, 



(Sub-ord. Heterocera, Fam. Psychida;.) 

 Plate XI, Jig. /, a, larva-case , b, moth $ . 



Hampson. Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Moths, vol. i, page 

 295, No. 627. 111. Het. IX, ined., pi. 159, fig. 23, pi. 176, fig. 12 (larva-case). 



In September 1896, Mr, J. Lancaster, Secretary to the Agricul- 

 tural and Horticultural Society of India, forwarded to the Indian 

 Museum specimens of bag-worms (Psychidae) from the Chittagong 

 district, where they were said to be defoliating tea and other plants. 

 The following note which appeared in the Indian Agriculturist 

 proves without doubt the destructive nature of the insect:— 



"The troubled planter of Chittagong has set the members of the Agricultural 

 and Horticultural Society of India and those interested in natural history, both 

 from a scientific and practical point of view, a task in the way of investigation 

 and observation. He has recently forwarded some specimens of leaf-worms which 

 the reports are working great havoc among the tea-gardens in that district just 

 now. From observation of the insect's movements it appears that it begins by 

 attacking the most tender leaves and shoots and gradually eating up all the leaves 

 upon the tree. Not only is this insect possessed of a voracious appetite, but there 

 is much method in its system of securing a food supply. Having demolished all 

 the choice leaves on one tree it goes on to the next. These insects commenced by 

 attacking an avenue of Poinciana trees, and they have now spread to palms and 

 fruit trees." 



The examples which consisted of larva-cases and imagos proved 

 to be new to the Museum Collection, specimens were therefore for- 

 warded to Sir G. F. Hampson, who very obligingly identified the 

 insect as belonging to the species Acanthopsyche {Brachycyttarus) 

 svbteralbata, Hamps., a species previously recorded from Ceylon. 

 He describes the insect thus :— 



Male : Head, thorax and abdomen dark brown, wings dark 

 brown, the underside of the hind wing shining bluish white. 



Larva-case covered by comminuted leaves and suspended by a 

 silken thread, 



Exp. 15 Millim. 



