No, 4- ] Notes on Insect pests from the Entomological Section. 194 



The following is an extract from the report (dated 26th March 

 1897) :- 



" I am forwarding to you two samples of the caterpillars which destroy poppy. 

 In the bottle labled A, are specimens of those which only appear towards the 

 middle or close of the season. The specimens obtained of this sort, I found on 

 the under-part of the leaf, and these were evidently hatched on it from ova depos- 

 ited thereon and the attack on the leaf commenced on the spot, on the under 

 side where they first came into existence. I found by keeping them as boys 

 keep silkworms at home that they grew rapidly and also changed colour as 

 they grew. The specimens sent are not full grown. I believe they would have 

 grown another quarter of an inch and have been stouter in proportion. The 

 growth of these caterpillars is so rapid that in fifteen days they become full grown. 

 Since I collected them they have matured and are passing into the chrysalis stage. 



"I send you specimens of these in a match box together with a portion of the 

 cells formed by them. 



"The specimens in the bottle B, are the sort which live under ground and 

 attack the young plant in its earlier stage, and frequently denude whole fields, 

 the natives call them * Kator' or " Kumwah. " 



The insects received are as follows : — 



(i) Specimens marked A consist of some larvse of a Noctues 

 moth, the material being insufficient for precise identification. 



(2) Specimens marked B prove to be caterpillars not unlike the 

 larvae of the Noctues moth Agrotis suffusa, Hubn., which has 

 previously been recorded as attacking young opium plants and other 

 agricultural crops in India. See Indian Museum Notes, Vol. I^ 

 PP- 33^ 95j I03) 108, and 206. 



(3) Specimens in a match box consisted of a few chrysalids 

 belonging to two different species of Noctues moths. 



4. Indigo pests. 

 a. Agrotis segetiSy Schiff., and A, biconica, Koll. 



Some Lepidopterous larvse (alive) were received in March 1897 

 from Messrs. Finlay, Muir & Co., as attacking indigo plants in one 

 of their indigo estates. The caterpillars were reared in the Indian 

 Museum, and by the end of March there emerged moths belonging 

 to two distinct species of Noctuidae. One of these is Agrotis segetis^ 

 Schiff. (three specimens), and the other species being Agrotis 

 hicofiica, Koll. (one specimen). 



The insect A. segetis is well known both in Europe and in India, 

 as a very destructive pest to agriculture, and according to Curtis. 



