64 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. V. 



3.— INSECT PESTS OF THE SUGARCANE IN INDIA; 

 By E. P. Stebbing, F.E.S., 



Indian Forest Service. 



Sugarcane all over the world is attacked by a variety of insect 

 pests, and I propose to give here what is at present known of the life 

 histories and methods of attack of those particular forms of insect 

 life which prey upon, and often irretrievably ruin, our Indian sugar- 

 cane crops. 



In an article published in the Pioneer of November 12th, 

 1900, under the title of the "Sugarcane Committee and Insect Pests/' 

 I briefly enumerated some of the insects reported as attacking the 

 cane in India, mentioning shortly the methods of procedure of each. 

 I propose here to elaborate and add to that article and with the 

 assistance of full descriptions and life histories of the insects (where 

 known) and diagrams to draw up a bulletin on the subject which 

 will be of practical use to indigo planters and others who may intend 

 taking up the cultivation of the cane on a large scale. 



In my article in the Pioneer I stated that " some eleven pests 

 in all have been reported at various times as attacking the sugar- 

 cane crop." I will add here six more to this number. They beiong 

 to the great orders of Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (butterflies, 

 moths), Hemiptera (scale insects, bugs), Orthoptera (locusts, 

 grasshoppers), and Pseudoneuroptera (white ants, etc). 



In this note 1 have not taken the insects in the order of their gene- 

 rally accepted classification amongst scientists, having deemed it 

 more advisable to divide them up into two groups according to the 

 nature of their attacks upon the plant as follows: — 



I. Insects attacking and boring into the root and stem of the 



sugarcane. 



II. Insects attacking and defoliating the leaves of the cane. 



Either of these different forms of attack may result in 

 the death of the plant, and consequently, if the insects are 

 numerous, in the ruin of the crop. A knowledge of their 

 habits is therefore of the first importance to the cultivator 

 as, without it, it is impossible to attempt to introduce 

 any methods of counteracting them. We will first con- 

 sider : — 



(. Insects attacking and boring into the sugarcane. 



