JJo. I,] Furtler Notes. 25 



approach the hatching point. The growth of the borer worm must be 

 very rapid, less than thirty days being probably occupied in the larval 

 state. The borers are quite active, and occasionally leave their burrows 

 and cratvl about upon the outside of the stalk, seeking another place to 

 enter. The full-grown borer is about an inch long, rather slender, nearly 

 cylindrical, and cream white in general colour, but speckled ^ with black 

 spots with a yellow head and black mouth-parts. Upon attaining its full 

 size, it bores to the outside of the cane and makes a large round hole for 

 its future exit — a hole which is usually at least one-fifth of an inch in dia- 

 meter. It then retires into its burrow and transforms, a short distance 

 from the opening, into a slender brown pupa,^ three quarters of an inch 

 long. The pupa state lasts but a few days and then the moth makes its 

 exit. The moth has a spread of wings of about an inch and a quarter, and 

 is of a light, greyish-brown color. With the female moth the hind wings 

 are of nearly the same color with the fore wings, but with the male the 

 former are silvery white. There are several broods in the course of the 

 season, and the insects hybernate almost exclusively in the larval or 

 " worm " state. During the winter they are to be found most abundant- 

 ly in the seed cane, but also in the discarded tops, and to a slighter 

 extent in the stubble. 



The Agricultural OflScer of Burdwan and Seebpore notices ^ that he has 



Food plants of the ^^^^ ^^^ Kash plant [Saccharum spontaneum)^ 

 worm other than sugar- attacked by the insect in the same way as sugar- 

 cane is attacked. Specimens of what appear to be 

 the larvae of the sugarcane borer have been received from the Collector of 

 Ganjam, who writes * that they destroy paddy and brinjal plants, besides 

 sugarcane. Similar specimens have also been received from the Agricul- 

 tural Officer of Rauchi, who reports them as injurious to brinjal; and 

 from Mr. Woodrow, of Poona, where they bore into jowari stalks and are 

 said to make the plant poisonous to cattle. (See p. 28.) Dr. Riley 

 notices ^ a very closely allied, if not identical, insect that bores into corn 

 (maize) stalks in America. 



In British Guiana^ the pest is subject to the attack of ants which 



Parasites and natural Hve in the cane fields, and are supposed to wage 

 enemies of the pest. continual warfare against the borers ; and in Man- 



Dr. Riley found that the black speckles were not always present, but the specimens 

 sent to the Museum have them plainly visible. 



2 The insect which damaged sugarcane in Mauritius about the year 1856 is said ( see 

 Bojer's Report) to have spun itself up in the leaves of the plant instead of transforming into 

 a pupa in its burrow. In the case, however, of the insects reared in the Museum, the pupae 

 were formed iu the burrows in the cane. 



8 In a letter dated Calcutta, 4th July, forwarded by the Director of Land Records and 

 Agriculture, Bengal. 



* In a report forwarded by the Revenue and Agricultural Department. 



5 Report of U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division Entomology, 1880. 



^ See Miss Ormerod's paper in Proc. Ent. See, Lond., 1879, p. 33. 



