No. 4.] Notes on Insect pests from the Entomological Section. 218 



of Madras, Nos. 634 and 635, dated 27th July 1897, relating to the 

 very promising subject of utilizing Lady-birds and other natural 

 enemies of the insect pests of the country, I have the honor to 

 submit the following report by Mr. E. Barlow, the Assistant in charge 

 of Entomology: — 



" In India there is already known a good number of indigenous insectivorous 

 insects belonging to the three orders of Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (two-winged 

 flies), and Hymenoptera ( Ichneumon flies, etc.), which have proved to be more 

 or less beneficial to agriculture by keeping down insect pests. 



*'I.— SOME BEETLES KNOWN TO BE DESTRUCTIVE TO PESTS. 



" (rt) Among the Lady-birds I may mention — 



"(i) Chilocoriis circumdatus Schonh., which is said to prey upon the brown 

 bug {Lecanium coffem) of coffee plants in Ceylon. 



'* (ii) Scymnus rotundaius, Motsch., which is parasitic upon the white bug 

 {Pseudecoccus adonidum ) of coffee bushes in Ceylon. 



" (iii) Flatynaspis villosa, Mulsant, attacks the scale-insect ( Icerya csgyptia- 

 cum ) in Calcutta. 



" (iv) Vedalia fumida, var. roseipennis, Muls., said to prey upon the Coccid 

 Icerya cBgyptiacum in Calcutta. 



The last named was submitted to Mr. L. O. Howard, United States Entomolo- 

 gist, for identification, who wrote regarding it (see Indian Museum Notes, Vol. 

 IV, No. I, p. 28). ' It is interesting to find that this Coccinellid is not distantly 

 related to the well-known Vedalia cardinalis, Mulsant, which Tvlr. Albert Koebele 

 of this department, brought from Australia some years ago, and which destroyed 

 Icerya purchasi on our Western coast. It is Mulsant's Rodolia roseipennis, which 

 according to Crotch's revision of the Coleopterous family Coccinellidse, is a colour 

 variety of R. fumida, Muls. Accepting the nomenclature given by Crotch, the 

 name of the insect is therefore Vedalia fumida, var. roseipennis, Muls.' It may be 

 mentioned that the Vedalia cardinalis here referred to is an Australian species of 

 Lady-bird which on introduction into America is said to have at once cleared thou- 

 sands of orange trees of destructive scale-insects of the species Icerya pv>rchasi. 



" (b) Among beetles other than Lady-birds are — 



" (v) A Tiger beetle of the species Cicindela sexptinctata,¥3.ht.,viKich de- 

 vours the rice-sapper { Leptocorisa acuta) in Chumparun. 



" (vi) A Carabid beetle Calosoma orientale, Hope, which destroys the young 

 'ocusts of the species Acridium peregrinum, Oliver. 



" IL^SOME DIPTERA (TWO-WINGED FLIES) KNOWN TO BE DESTRUC* 

 TIVE TO INSECT-PESTS. 



" (vii-viii) Syrphus nietneri, Schinr., and S. splendens, Dolesch., the larvae of 

 these two flies are said to prey on the coffee Aphis {Aphis coffece) in Ceylon. 



