144 



Indian Museum Notes. [Vol, V. 



VI.— INSECT PESTS OF INDIGO. 



On Indigo f era tinctoria, Linn,, Natural Order Leguminosce. 



The indigo plant. 



i. Anoplocnemis pkasianus, Fabricius. Sub-family Mictinae. 

 Family Coreidse. Sub-order Heteroptera, Order Hemiptera. Plate 

 xvi, Figs. 6, imago, dorsal view ; 6 a, imago, lateral view, by i\. 



In July, igoo, Mr. W. Gollan, of the Government Botanical 

 Gardens, North-Western Provinces, Saharanpur, forwarded some 

 bucrs, regarding which he wrote, "These insects have lately been 

 damaging a small experimental plot of indigo I am growing in the 

 garden. The insect congregates in clusters of three to four near the 

 tops of the plants, and cuts the young growing points, feeding on 

 these when they fall over to the point where the insects are clinging 

 to the thicker portions of the stems. They drop to the ground 

 when disturbed, so I get rid of them by s'haking them on to cloths 

 spread on the ground below the plants/' 



Mr. W. L. Distant has kindly identified the insect as Anoplocnemis 

 phasianus, Fabricius, vide Lethierry and Siverin's Cat. Gen. Hemip- 

 teres, vol. ii, p. 12 (1894). The figure shows one of the specimens, 

 dorsal and lateral views, x \\. 



2. Bagrada picta, Fabricius. Sub-family Pentatominae. Family 

 Pentatomidas. Order Hemiptera. 



At the end of April Mr. E. A. Hancock and I found a small plot 

 of Natal indigo plants grown for experimental purposes at Pembe- 

 randah near Dalsingh Serai, Behar, attacked by a small bug. The 

 insect had spread on to the plot of indigo from an adjoining thresh- 

 ing floor on which a crop of " Sursea " (Mustard), Brassica sp., 

 Natural Order Cruciferce, had been threshed. The bugs had evi- 

 dently been feeding on the Sursea, but when that was cut and had 

 dried had migrated to the indigo, on which it was feeding. It might 

 become a severe pest if its ordinary pabulum failed. Mr. W. L. Dis- 

 tant has kindly identified it as Bagrada picta, Fabricius, Sub-family 

 Pentatominae, Family Pentatomidas, Order Hemiptera. At a later 

 date Mr. Hancock informs me that this bug did very great damage 

 to his indigo plants. 



3. Chilomcnes sexmaculala, Fabricius, Family Coccinellidae. 

 Order Coleoptera 



This lady-bird beetle was found to entirely eat up and eradicate a 

 swarm of black apliids which had attacked a small plot of indigo 



