82 Indian Insect Pests, [Vol. I. 



The tachiaid fly has not been described in this paper, as a consider- 

 able amount of information has beea collected concerninof it, and it would 

 seem more appropriate to consider it in connection with the silk worm of 

 which it is so serious a parasite. 



The following is the synonymy, as given byMr. P. Cameron, of Chalcis 

 euplcecij the Hyraenopterus parasite, with incrassated hiud femora : — 



*' Chalcis [Brachymeria) euploeaj Westw., Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 

 Vol. II, p. VI, PL II, figs. 9 and 10, (1837-40). 



** Chalcis lasus, Walker, Ent. I, p. 219. 



" Chalcis inclinator. Walker, Trans. Ent. Soe. Lond. (5), I, p. 355, 

 (1862-64). 



^^ Chalcis ohscurata, Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1874, p. 399. 

 Exhibited by Hope at a meeting of the London Entomological Society 

 as a parasite of a Euploea butterfly from India. 



*' It is also recorded from Ceylon, Java, Am, Borneo, Batchian, China 

 and Japan.^' 



The following is a translation of Westwood^s description of the 

 insect : — 



" Chalcis {Brachymeria) euploea ; Black, pubescent ; thorax and head punctated, 

 abdomen smooth ; tegulse yellow ; the two anterior pairs of legs yellow, except the 

 femora, which in the front legs are black at the base, and in the second pair of legs 

 are black with yellow extremities ; in the hind legs, the coxa, and trochanter are black 

 the femur is black, with yellow on both sides of the extremity ; the tibia is yellow 

 except at the base where it is blackish ; the tarsi are yellow, and the pulvillous yellow. 

 The posterior femora are each armed, on the internal margin, with about ten minute 

 teeth." 



From the descriptions given by Walker and Westwood, it appears that the length 

 of the body varies from two to three lines, the expanse of the wings from 3| to 5 

 lines. 



The second chalcid, which Mr. Cameron has determined as a new 

 species of Perilampus, is figured in the plate, but has not yet been 

 described. 



If it should turn out, as now appears probable, that the tachiuid 

 which attacks the Dasychira thwaitesii is the 



Bemedies. •' 



same as the '^fly'' that destroys silk worms in 

 Murshiclabad and other parts of Bengal, it would seem to be well worth 

 while to ascertain by actual experiment whether the increase of the pest 

 cannot be more rapidly controlled by introducing fly-blown worms from 

 the silk districts than by waiting for the parasites to be introduced by 

 accident. 



Besides any such possible method of controlling the pest, however, 

 there can be no doubt but that, in any limited area, the caterpillars can 

 be readily destroyed by arsenical insecticides,^ though it has yet to be 

 ascertained to what extent it will pay to employ these substances in India. 



^ See Notes on Economic Entomology, No. 2. 



