No. 3.] Cereals and Crops. 135 



Museum which he noted were simply destroying the (i Tilli " (sesa- 

 mum) crop in that district. Specimens were sent to Mr. W. L. Dis- 

 tant, who identified them as Aphanus sordidus, Fabricius. He notes 

 that it is common to India and China. 



On RidriUS communis, Linn., Natural Order Euphorbiacece. 



The castor-oil plant. 



1. Ophiusa melicerta, Drury, Family Noctuidse, Sub-order Pha- 

 Isenge. Order Lepidoptera. Plate xiii, Figs. 2b, pupa; 2a, Cocoon 

 with empty pupa-case projecting therefrom ; 2, imago. 



In August, igoo, Dr„ Adolf Lehmann, B. S. A., Ph. D., Agricul- 

 tural Chemist in Mysore, forwarded to the Museum some live 

 caterpillars reported to be destroying " field beans " and castor-oil 

 plants (vernacular name " Haralu ") in the Chitaldroog District of 

 Mysore. It has also been bred in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 

 the latter plant growing in Calcutta. 



Only one specimen of the caterpillar attacking the castor-oil 

 plants was received alive. This was reared in the Museum, and 

 proved to be the noctuid moth Ophiusa melicerta, Drury, which has 

 a vast range over the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australasian regions. 

 The figures show the pupa, the cocoon or shelter of the larva, and the 

 moth. 



2. Ergo/is merione.Cra.mer, Sub-family Nymphalinse. Family 

 Nymphalidse, Sub-order Rhopalocera. Order Lepidoptera. Plate ix, 

 Figs. 5, imago male ; $a larva ; 5b, pupa. 



In August, 1900, some caterpillars found eating the leaves of the 

 castor-oil plant in Calcutta were reared in the Museum. They 

 proved to be the butterfly Ergolis merione, Cramer, which has a wide 

 range in northern and continental India, Burma, the Malay Peninsula 

 and Sumatra. A figure of the upper side of the male insect is shown 

 on Plate X, Fig. 5; Fig. 5 a, larva; Fig. 5 b,pupa. 



3. Euproctis scintillans, Walker. Family Lymantriidse. Sub-order 

 Phalgense. Order Lepidoptera. 



A single specimen of the above-named moth was bred in Calcutta 

 in May, 1901, from a larva found feeding on the leaves of a 

 castor-oil plant growing in the Museum compound. The moth 

 occurs throughout India and Ceylon, in Burma, and the Andaman 

 Isles. 



