16 Indian Insect Pests. [Vol. I. 



extent they would be attacked. On the 14th of November, when the 

 rains were well over, a small sample of each was closed up and sent to 

 Mr. H. M. Ross^ who had kindly undertaken to furnish a report. 



The experiments are not so definite as could be wished, and it will 

 be well to repeat them through another year ; but they seem to indicate 

 pretty clearly that, when taken fresh from the field and carefully 

 isolated from contamination by weevils, although exposed to the air, 

 wheat can be indefinitely preserved from attack, and hence that the wee- 

 vil does not deposit its eggs while the grain is standing in the ear in the 

 fields. At the same time, however, the experiments clearly show that 

 while it is easy enough to preserve hard red wheat, the very greatest pre- 

 cautions have to be taken in order to preserve soft white wheat from at- 

 tack. 



It should be noticed that in the case of samples (especially of the 

 soft varieties) reported upon as ^ practically undamaged but with a few 

 stray weevils in them/ these weevils could only have been introduced 

 late in the rains ; for had even one or two weevils succeeded in laying 

 their eggs in the wheat, before it reached the Museum, they would have 

 occasioned appreciable damage, owing to the rapidity of their reproduc- 

 tion. The writer^ therefore, concludes that during the latter part of the 

 rains, a few stray individuals, from the badly infested samples, found 

 their way into the clean samples, which were deposited in different parts 

 of the Museum and No. 1, Sudder Street, in places supposed to be well 

 isolated, but which in reality were not sufficiently removed from infested 

 quarters. 



The following is a detailed account of the experiments, with the 

 remarks made on them by Mr. H. M. Ross : — 



EXPEEIMENT 1. 



Samples A, B, B2, and N, were rubbed out from the ear at the Cawnpore Experi- 

 mental Farm on 28th March 1888, were unpacked and exposed to the air in small bot- 

 tles on the 27th April, and were kept until the end of September in No. 1, Sudder 

 Street, where they were thoroughly isolated ; they were sent in the end of September, 

 during the writer's absence, to the Entomology room in the Museum,aud thus exposed 

 for a short time to possible contamination by weevils. ' 

 Mr. Ross reports on them in November :— 



*' Sample A. soft white wheat, with admixture of about 20% of hard, — contains 



one or two live weevils ; no real damage done. 

 "Sample B. Soft white wheat, with small admixture of hard grains and 

 barley. Has evidently been damp from exposure in the rains. No 

 damage from weevils. 

 " Sample B2. Practically identical with sample B. 



" Sample N. Soft white wheat, with admixture of reddish grains. No damage 

 from weevils." 



' Weevils are not very active so late in the rains, but this exposure" is, in the writer's 

 opiuion, sufficient to account for the few stray weevils found in the samples in November. 



