No. 3.] Sugarcane. 169 



year is simply owing to the scantiness of the rainfall last year, and 

 the total lack of rain during the last six or seven months. The 

 cultivators report that these gozras are damaging the " aus " paddy 

 crops in places. 



The allied American species has been reported to do great damage 

 to sugarcane, and corn (probably Indian corn or maize), and has 

 been found at the roots of grasses, in carrot roots and in dahlia 

 tubers. The life history is very imperfectly known. No remedy is 

 suggested for this pest except the use of trap-lanterns to be lighted 

 in the fields at night where the beetle is abundant, the light attracting 

 the insect, which falls into a tray below containing water with a thin 

 film of kerosine oil on the top. As this insect in the imago or 

 perfect state feeds on the young cane just below the surface of the 

 ground, it is not probable that many of them would come to light, 

 except perhaps at the pairing season. The larvae or grubs also feed 

 underground. Except the laborious and expensive method of dig- 

 ging out the beetles wherever their presence is shown by the dead 

 or dying canes, it is difficult to devise a remedy for its ravages. 

 Fortunately this is the first recorded instance of its being a pest in 

 India, so that the damage it does appears to be quite local at present. 



4. Chilo simplex, Butler. Family Crambidse. Sub-order Phalaenae. 

 Order Lepidoptera. 



farther a simplex, Butler, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1880, p. 690, n. 150. 



Chilo simplex, Barber, Ind. Mus. i^'otes, vol. iv, n. 4, p. 217, n. 7 (1899); 

 vol. v, n. i, p. 21 (1900); n. 2, pp. 41, 42, 43, 44 (1900). 



Crambus zonellus, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1S84, p. 528, n. 119. 

 pi., xlviii, fig. 16 ; Cotes and Swinhoe, Cat. Moths, India, p. 690, n. 4703 (1889). 



Crambus partellus, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1885, p, 879, n. 192 ; 

 Cotes and Swinhoe, Cat. Moths, Ind., p. 690, n. 4700 (1889). 



Diatrcea saccharalis, Cotes {nee Fabricius), Ind. Mus. Notes, vol. i, n. 1, pp. 22, 

 — 27, pi. it, fig- 2; a, tipper surface of moth natural size ; b, dorsal view of 

 caterpillar enlarged ; c, lateral view of caterpillar natural size j d, lateral view 

 of caterpillar enlarged; e, chrysalis natural size; f, chrysalis enlarged j g, 

 piece of sugarcane shewing tunnels and chrysalis natural size; vol. i, n. 1, 

 p. 67 (1889) ; vol. i, n. 4, p. 212 (1889); vol. ii, n. 1, p. 2 (1891) ; vol. ii, n- 6, p. 162, 

 n. 137 (1893); vol. '"> n - l > P-26; vo1 - »"• n - *» PP- 5°— 52 (1896); vol. iv, n. 1 

 pp. 34. 35 (1896) ; vol. iv, n. 2, p. 43, n. 9 (1897); vol. iv, n. 4, pp. 199, 200, n. 6 

 p. 219, n. 17 (1889); vol. v,n. 1, p. 22 (1900); vol. v, n. 2, p. 41 (1900). 



The Sorghum Borer, Cotes, Ind. Mus. Notes, vol. i, n. 1, pp. 28— 29, n. 3 

 (1889) ; vol. iii, n. 5 p. 63 (1896). 



The Sugar-cane Borer, Cotes, Ind, Mus. Notes, vol. iii, n. 5, pp. 63, 64 (1896). 



Before dealing in detail with Chilo simplex, Butler, the most 

 fully known of the Indian sugarcane lepidopterous borers, I will 

 reprint the original description of it by Dr. A. G. Butler, and Sir 



