-8 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. VI. 



The life-history has now been fairly well ascertained, and, as 

 occurring under normal conditions, does not require a fresh descrip- 

 tion here. I have gone fully into the matter recently in conjunction 

 with Sir George Watt {The Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant : 

 Calcutta, Government of India Press, 1903). There are several points, 

 however, which are still obscure, and it is with the object of trying to 

 throw some light on one or two of these that these notes are written. 



The number of eggs laid by one female has never been deter- 

 mined, nor is it known whether new eggs continue to be produced 

 after the maturity and fertilisation of the insect by the male. The only 

 attempts to touch on this point have been those of Mr. Green,* but 

 he confined himself to showing by dissection that the individual 

 female contained more eggs in that period of the year when the 

 insect was not destructively active. It struck me, however, that 

 valuable information might be obtained by examining female adults 

 caught late in the afternoon. It is, of course, probable that the 

 eggs are either laid chiefly at night or else in the daytime, and 

 hence if eggs are continuously being produced in the body there 

 ought to be a great excess of eggs in the females either in the morn- 

 ing or in the evening. In November 1902 a large number of insects 

 were therefore dissected, and some of the results follow. In each 

 case the female was dissected out in order to show the eggs, which 

 were then carefully counted. 



1. Kuttal, Cachar, October 27, 1902. — 



(a) Morning Catch — 24 adult insects ; 6 females. Females 



contained respectively (1) 17, (2) 20, (3) 15, (4) 6 eggs. 

 Average 14^ eggs per insect. 



(b) Afternoon Catch — 35 adult insects; 16 females. Females 



contained respectively (1) 4, (2) o, (3) 4, (4) o, (5) 10, 

 (6) 14, (7) o r (8) o, (9) 11, (10) o, (1 1) 13, (12) o, (13) 20 

 eggs. Average 5-8 eggs per insect, while 46 per cent, 

 contain none at all. 



2. Kuttal, Cachar, October 28th, 1902 : — 



(a) One insect caught 8 A.M., contained 14 eggs. 



3. Silcoorie, Cachar, October 30th, 1902 :— 



(a) Morning Catch — 220 adult insects ; 103 females. Six 

 females, selected at random, contained respectively 

 (1) 1, (2) 16, (3) i8 f (4) 19, (5) o, (6) 10 eggs. Average 

 104 eggs per insect ; 16*7 per cent, contain' none 

 at all. 



* Circular, Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniyaj Series I, No. 21, 1902. 



