46 Indian Museum Notts.- [Vol. V. 



" An examination of the leaves clearly shewed that they were punctured all 

 over by the insects, and they were practically sapless. The insects were generally 

 found in couples and were evidently pairing. In some cases eggs seemed to have 

 been laid on the upper surface of the blade of the leaves , which felt more or less 

 rough and powdery. This is stated with reserve as I was not quite positive 

 whether this powdery substance really consisted of the eggs of the insects. 

 It is hoped that some light will be thrown on the subject by a study of the specie 

 mens I have brought down for the Museum. 



"I went to a village called Goleman and thence to another village called 

 Kamarkali. A field-to-field inspection shewed that the damage done here was 

 even greater than that at Betagi. Here, as at Betagi, both aus and aman had 

 been sown out in nurseries and both were equally attacked, some nurseries were 

 completely destroyed. 



"The insects appear in paddy fields generally in the months of Bhadra and 

 Sravan and disappear mostly in Kartik. This year they appeared as early as 

 Baisakh. With sunshiny and fine weather their numbers may diminish; but 

 when the sky is cloudy and the weather drizzly the numbers increase. In all cases 

 however, the plants are continuously attacked from the early stages of their growth 

 up to the time of harvesting. 



'•'Coming with the west wind in one day the full fledged insects are found to 

 alight on the fields. They stay on the same field for some days, suck out the 

 sap from the parenchyma of the leaves and from the stalks, and then, having laid 

 their eggs, so it is said, fly away to some other fields. 



" In this way they fly about from field to field leaving the plants in a thoroughly 

 withered condition. No information could be given me as to what emanates from 

 these eggs, if eggs at all, that are laid by the departing insects on the leaf blades. 

 Nothing is known to the ryots of the larval or pupal stage of the insect, the fully 

 developed beetle being the only creature familiar to them. It is to be hoped 

 that the study of the insects at the Museum will throw some light on their life 

 history. When the plants are levelled to the ground at the time of harvesting ,the 

 insects take shelter round the root stalks, and in one or two days, just as the 

 paddy is about to be gathered for threshing, they fly off, the ryots cannot 

 say where, but I believe they return to the bheels. Some may be found on the 

 threshing floor, but they generally die off. When attacking the nurseries as they 

 have generally done this year, the damage is great, as the seedlings attacked 

 are all but destroyed. Those that are left do not put forth a vigorous 

 growth after transplantation, and it is said that the rice from such fields had 

 a bitterish taste. Last year it appears that the insects came during the rains 

 and attacked the crops after they had been transplanted. In this case, the 

 effect of the pest was to stunt and weaken the plants, which afterwards yielded 

 but a small outturn. 



"It is very difficult to form an idea of the actual damage done. The culti- 

 vators say that already 10 annas of their crops have been destroyed. They 

 might have been exaggerating a bit, but when one considers that in some 

 nurseries almost every seedling, without exception, has insects on it — 4 to 6 on 

 each blade of leaf— there can be no doubt that the damage that will eventually 

 be effected will be very appreciable. It would be rash to form any positive 

 estimates of the damage already done ; but from my own personal observations 

 of fields very badly attacked, and of fields comparatively free from the attacks 



