No. 2.] Notes on insect pests from the Entomological Section. 45 



II.-INSECTS DESTRUCTIVE TO CEREALS AND CROPS. 



(z) Paddy Pests. 



1. Hispa cenescens, Baly* 



[Order Coleoptera, Family Chrysomelidse?\ 



The Rice Hispa. 



Reports have been sent in from several parts of India from which 

 it would seem that considerable damage has been done to the rice 

 crops by this beetle during the past year. 



In September 1899 specimens were sent by the Department of 

 Land Records and Agriculture, Assam, with the following report : — 



" Charaka Pok. This is a kind of black insect furnished with tiny wings. So 

 long as the Kothias (i.e., young plants growing out from broadcast seedlings) remain 

 young and soft, they are eaten away by these insects which flock in numbers like 

 locusts. The green plants then become more and more yellow and partially wither 

 away. These plants, however, do not altogether die out, but the villagers inform 

 me that in the case of Salt paddy these damaged plants yield a very poor (and 

 sometimes no) crop. 



" In the case of Ahu too, the damaged plants yield a very poor crop. The 

 damage alone in Baligaon, Hazari, and Charigaon mauzas of this subdivision is 

 estimated at ■§•, i.e., a third of the whole area under cultivation, is said to be 

 damaged. This, however, seems to me to be an overestimate ; my personal inspection 

 of some parts of Baligaon and Hazari mauzas has convinced me that one-sixth 

 onty of the cropped area is affected." 



The following is an extract from a report sent in May 1899 by 

 Mr. N. N. Banerji, Assistant Director of Land Records and Agricul- 

 ture, Bengal, reporting the damage done by this pest at Backer- 

 gunge :— 



" At Betagi I found that the damage being done by the insects was really 

 serious. The aus crops here is generally transplanted and not broadcasted as 

 usual. 



" The seed of this crop had already been sown in nurseries and the plants had 

 attained the height of about eight inches. Aman paddy, which is also cultivated 

 here, had also been sown out in nurseries, but the sowing of this crop was made 

 later than that of the aus crop, and the seedlings had not accordingly advanced 

 as much as aus seedlings. Both aus and aman were found to be equally attacked. 

 Some were more badly attacked than others. Insects (Hispa cenescens) were 

 found in abundance on the leaves of the seedlings, and the general appearance 

 presented was a black dotted appearance on a groundwork of yellow, the leaves 

 having lost their fresh greenish colour, owing to the ravages of the insects. 



