No. 3.] Notes on insect pests from the Entomological Section. 131 



damage in two. Upper Sind Frontier, — locusts appeared in Thul and Kashmor 

 talukas, causing slight damage. 



Week ending isth December. — Karachi, — kharif crops slightly damaged by 

 locusts in Sehwan, Kohistan, and Sakro talukas. Shikarpur, — locusts appeared 

 in one taluka but caused no damage. 



Week ending 2gth December. — Upper Sind Frontier, — mustard crops damaged 

 by locusts in Thai taluka. 



6. Other undetermined insects destructive to 



PADDY. 



a. Noctues caterpillar. — Specimens of a caterpillar said to be 

 injurious to paddy crops were received in the Museum from Mr. F. C, 

 Parsons, Special Settlement Officer, Malabar and South Canara, who 

 wrote on the 29th March 1896 : — 



" I only know of it as a pest in the cultivation of rice in backwater swamps 

 which takes place in Malabar in the hot weather (February to May). A plot of 

 swamp is surrounded by a bund, the water is baled from the interior, the rice is 

 transplanted, and when the seedlings have been in the ground about a month, 

 this pest appears, often covering several acres in the course of a week, and eats 

 away the young blades of the rice plant. The pest does not appear until the 

 surface soil is getting a little dry from the action of the sun, but the drought is 

 very shallow, for the water all round the outside of the bund is higher generally by 

 four or five feet than the surface of the cultivated area inside the bund. 



On cutting the bund and letting in water the grub disappears at once and may 

 not be seen again, but of course this means that the ryot has to bale the water out 

 again and his seedlings are damaged. The same result follows a shower of rain 

 which, however, but rarely falls at this time of the year. Sometimes the grubs 

 are swept up with a broom and so prevented from destroying the whole crop." 



The specimens owing to their being immature could not be 

 precisely identified, but they appeared to be not unlike the larvae of 

 the Noctus moth Helothis armigera, Hubn, which is a well-known 

 pest to agriculture. 



b. Microlepidopterous larva- — Specimens of an insect injurious 

 to paddy plants in the vicinity of PoonamalU, were received on the 

 loth January 1896, from the Board of Revenue, Madras, through the 

 Superintendent, Government Central Museum, Madras. 



The insects were found to be the larvae of a Microlepidopterous 

 moth, which cannot precisely be determined without the examination 

 of the imago. 



The following is a report on the pest furnished by the Agricul- 

 tural Inspector : — 



" Local name. — The insect whose attack on paddy crop was the object of 

 inspection, is a worm locally known as " Urappuchchi." 



