1 86 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. V. 



moth, which he says resulted from a hairless stick-like larva of a 

 greyish-brown colour very similar in appearance to the bark of the 

 branches of the tea bush, which did great damage in certain places 

 to the tea on his estate during the rainy season — August to October 

 1900. During the month of January, 1901, deep hoeing was com- 

 menced, and large numbers of the chrysalises were found in the 

 cultivation, especially in places where the caterpillars were pre- 

 viously most numerous, and he noted that these pupae are probably 

 those of the caterpillars mentioned above. 



The pupae were placed in a breeding cage on jute and damped 

 every other day. At the end of February and early in March the 

 moths emerged at irregular intervals and were found to be Biston 

 suppressaria, Guenee. The moth has been recorded from the 

 Kangra Valley, Sikkim, Assam, Calcutta; Ceylon and Japan. This 

 insect has not previously been reported to do damage to tea, and is 

 not likely to prove a serious pest. The only remedy for it would 

 appear to be to employ children to hand-pick and kill all the larvae 

 they can find during the season they are feeding, and in the winter 

 when cultivation is going on to thoroughly dig up the ground where 

 the caterpillar was previously known to do much damage, and to 

 thoroughly break up the soil, and crush all the pupae that may be 

 observed. One pupa killed in the winter would probably, if left to 

 come to perfection, be the parent of hundreds of larvae the next 

 rainy season. The moth would appear to be single brooded laying 

 its eggs in the spring, which emerge in the rains. The moth may, 

 however, be double-brooded, but this can only be known by studying 

 its life-history throughout the year. This may be.the species referred 

 to in " Indian Museum Notes, ' vol. v, p. 51 (igoo), as doing much 

 damage to tea during the rains, appearing in millions and denuding 

 acres of tea bushes of all their leaves. The locality is not stated 

 where the injury occurred. 



On June 3rd, 1901, Mr. K. D. Murray sent a large number of full- 

 grown caterpillars of what is probably this species to the Museum. 

 Total length over two inches. Cylindrical, colour dark brown, exactly 

 the colour of the weathered bark of a tree, sometimes with a greenish 

 shade; the whole surface highly rugose, each segment deeply 

 seamed; the head cleft covered with low shining tubercles reminding 

 one much of those on a lizard ; the first abdominal segment bears two 

 obtuse tubercles anteriorly ; the rest of the body is practically un- 

 marked. The larva has a most offensive smell, so much so that it 

 would probably be nauseous to birds. It spins a good deal of very 

 strong silk, by which it drops at slight provocation to the ground 



