Uo. 1.] Further Notes, 41 



Baboo Mohendra Naih Bose writes ' o^ Hlspa cenescevs that it is called Pdmdri — 

 "These insects always exist in tlie paddy fields, and probably grow in earth, when in 

 the middle of the month of Aswin, correspondinjjj to the months of September and 

 October, western winds blow very hard, these insects fly out in the air in innumerable 

 number and destroy the paddy plants." 



The Sub-Manager of the Raj, Darbhunga, wrote * of Hhpa cenescens on 11th 

 October — " A peculiar kind of black insect tliat has been eating away wholesale the 

 green leaves of the paddy in almost all the villages in my circle. The ryots say that 

 they never saw such insect pests before." 



On 31st October the Manager of the Raj, Darbhunga, wrote ^ : "These pests have 

 now nearly disappeared." 



The following is an abstract of a report^ by the Deputy Collector of Basirhat: — 

 *' Shanki poJca, or 'the Whitening Insect,' is a small, black, fly-like insect which 

 damages the young paddy plants, and especially of amun rice. The insect eats ofi'the 

 green covering of the leaves, leaving the fibre intact, which gives the paddy a white and 

 withered appearance. The young plants are weakened and stunted in growth by the 

 attack, and consequently yield from twelve to fifty per cent, less than tbey otherwise 

 would do, but the crop is never totally destroyed. The pest is first noticed in June 

 or July when it appears in such vast numbers as sometimes to blacken square miles 

 of rice fields. It attacks the seedlings which have only just taken root after trans- 

 plantation, and of these only such as are almost completely submerged in the water, 

 paddy which stands on ground where there is but little water being exempt •. again, 

 for seedlings td be attacked, they must be in the first stage of their growth, when the 

 leaves are young and tender, before they become rough and hard and their edges be- 

 come sharp, as in the second stage of growth when the pest is unable to harm them. 

 The pest selects, in the first instance, the fresh green shoots, and, after eating these, it 

 attacks such of the older leaves as are still somewhat soft and, thin ; in the case of 

 the older leaves, however, it only eats the parenchyma, leaving the fibre exposed ; the 

 pest also devours each fresh blade as it is put forth. 



*' The attack lasts as long as the water remains in tl;,e field, the insects disappearing 

 altogether for the season as soon as the water subsides suflBciently to expose the 

 paddy stalks. 



'* The only thing ever done by the cultivators to fight the pest is to let the water 

 out of the field, and this of course can only be eff'ected in some cases. 



" A curious superstition prevails with regard to the insect, and is entirely believed in 

 by the cultivators. The notion being that the surest way to get rid of the pest, is 

 for a man or boy who has been born in the month of Bhadro, to walk over the field 

 and stick a leaf of a date tree in some part of it, then to pinch ofi" the heads of some 

 of the insects and bury the headless bodies in the field. The superstition has so 

 strong a hold on the minds of the cultivators that whenever the pest appears they 

 invariably (and sometimes at great expense) seek out a Bhadro-born man or boy and 

 get them to perform the ceremony. This pest is said to occur more frequently than 

 the jute pest, but no ^ specimens could be found for the Deputy Collector of Basirhat 

 to forward. 



* In a letter dated Calcutta, 2nd September 1888, forwarded by the Collector of 

 24-Pergunnahs. 



* In a letter dated 11th October, forwarded by the Magistrate of Durbhanga. 

 3 In a letter dated 31st October, forwarded by the Magistrate of Durbhanga. 



* Dated 5th November, and forwarded by the Collector of the 24-Pergunnahs. 



s Specimens of Hispa cenescens from the Museum, however, were sent to the Deputy 

 Collector of Basirhat, who identified them as the ," Shanhi poJca." 



