u8 Indian Museum Notes. LVol. V. 



vol. ix, n. 6, August 6th, 1 901, from D. D. Jussawalla, opposite 

 Trinker Sath Temple, Tardeo, Bombay, dated 4th idem : — 



" I herewith enclose for your inspection a specimen insect which does great 

 harm to pomelo fruit. From the middle of July to nearly the end of September 

 these insects are at their work of piercing through the rind of the pomelo fruit 

 to suck out the juice every night. If the fruits which are punctured by these 

 insects are not taken out in a day or two, they fall from the tree. From one 

 quarter to one-third of the above fruit crop is destroyed every year by these 

 insects. Please, therefore, suggest in your paper some remedies to destroy these 

 insects, or some means to lessen the injury to the above fruit. Please also give 

 the common and scientific name of the insect and its history, and any other in- 

 formation which you may think fit to give." 



As the Editor of ' Indian Gardening and Planting ' called the 

 insect a butterfly, and spoke of it as doing damage in the grub state, 

 I wrote to Mr. Jussawalla, who replied that the insect was a moth, 

 and the moth itself did the damage ; he also kindly sent some speci- 

 mens of the insect, which is the large, handsome and well-known 

 Ophideres fullonica, Linn., found in Africa, throughout the Oriental 

 region to New Guinea and Australia. 



Mr. F. Moore in Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond,, vol. xi, page 65 (1880), 

 notes : — 



" This insect is stated to be dreaded by the Australian Colonists on account of 

 the mischief the imago causes to the orange plantations — perforating the ripening 

 fruit with its proboscis, and thus causing them to soon fall to the ground and rot." 



On examining the proboscis of the moth it will be found to be 

 short, stout and robust, armed at the tip with teeth, with which it 

 doubtless pierces the rind of various fruits of the orange group and 

 sucks up the juice, and causing the fruit to rot owing to the injury 

 done to the rind. 



The obvious remedy is to kill the moths as much as possible, 

 From personal experience I know that they are passionately fond of 

 fruit; over-ripe jack, pineapple, and guava fruit laid out on the ground 

 in the gardens where the moths attack fruit of the orange varieties 

 will certainly attack them at night, and with the aid of a hurricane 

 lantern and a butterfly net they can be easily caught and killed. 

 Spraying the fruit with kerosine oil would doubtless keep off the 

 moths, as all insects strongly dislike the smell of mineral oil. This 

 may not be practicable, however, as the rind of the pomelo is largely 

 candied in India, and the oil would spoil the taste of the candied 

 fruit. For eating fresh it would do the fruit no harm. 



On Citrus species. Natural Order Rutacece, The Lemon tree. 



1. Papilio sp., Sub-family Papilioninx. Family Papilionidde. 

 Sub-order Rhopalocera. Order Lepidoptera. 



