No. 3.] Indigo. 142 



grown in the compound of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. The beetle 

 has a wide range, being found in South Africa, throughout India, the 

 Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java. 



4. Agrotis segetis, Schiff. Family Noctuidx. Sub-order Phalsense. 

 Order Lepidoptera. Plate xii., Figs, 2, imago X 2 ; 2 a. larva x 2 ; 

 2b ) pupa x 2. 



In March, 1897, Messrs. Finlay; Muir & Co. sent some live larvae 

 to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, reporting that they were attacking 

 the indigo in one of their estates. This appears to be the first 

 report received by the Indian Museum, Calcutta, regarding the 

 damage done by any lepidopterous pest to indigo. The specimens 

 were reared in the Museum, and proved to be A. segetis, Schiff., and 

 A. bicom'ca, Kollar. The first of these appears to be "The Indigo 

 Caterpillar" par excellence. Reference to these insects will be 

 found in ''• Indian Museum Notes," Vol. IV., n. 4, pp, 194, 195 (1899V 



On 29th March, 1897, Mr - H. Thorp, of the Luckimpur Indigo 

 Concern, Segowlie, Behar, reported that caterpillars were then very 

 rife and doing great damage to the indigo all over Behar. He wrote: 

 " This year the caterpillars are worse and more persistent than I 

 have ever known them. Having destroyed one crop in my (< Zerats" 

 or home cultivation, they have attacked the new crop which I re- 

 sowed as scon as it appeared above ground/' On 6th April, 1897, 

 Mr. Thorp wrote : " As a preliminary symptom there appears a little 

 cobweb on the young indigo plant, which binds the topmost shoots 

 together, and on the leaves appears minute black specks, whether 

 the excrement or eggs [certainly the former— Ed.] of the caterpillars 

 I cannot say. On opening the web I have mentioned a tiny cater- 

 pillar is seen. They spread with amazing rapidity. One evening a 

 field, or " chukla " as it is called, of many acres in extent, may be 

 fresh and healthy'looking, and the next morning the whole of it will be 

 blighted. The effect of this is more or less fatal to the plant accord- 

 ing to circumstances. In strong lands, and if the plant attacked is 

 fairly advanced, though the leaves may be entirely withered and eaten 

 up, the stem will shoot again, and provided that the plant. is not again 

 attacked will survive with only a small percentage of loss. But in a 

 year like the present one, with the moisture deficient to start with 

 and in light lands (which is the general character of indigo lands) 

 the attack is generally fatal to the plant. East winds seem to be 

 favourable, and west winds unfavourable to caterpillars. When the 

 wind blows persistently from the east for days together, caterpillars 

 will appear almost to a certainty. They generally appear when the 

 plant is young, say, a fortnight to a month old. I have known them, 



