63 
larva with a wire or needle, but cibo this ineans is practicable or 
not must be left to the Sansideration of those who have care of the 
plants. 
 WALTER F. H. Branprorp, 
I may add that I have described a small boring-beetle (Xyleborus 
morigerus) which has been very injurious in some conservatories to- 
Dendrobia from New Guinea, having probably been sent out extensively 
with the orchids by a firm of nurserymen. It is, rib not prese esent 
in the portions sent. 
Solanum torvum in Assam.—The following note is extracted from a 
Report on a Botanical tour in the Lakhimpur district of Assam, by 
G. A. Gammie, Assistant, Government Cinchona m Mungpoo 
(Records of the Botanical Sur vey of India, i. pp. 70-71 
“The military outpost of Sadiya, situated close to he 3 right bank 
of the river, is surrounded fe far es stretches of gun ertt 
interpersed by coppi : large ann 
formerly held here to the emet pred d of acies. o the wild 
tribes in the mountains and merchants from the low countries, but I 
believe they were discontinued a year or two ago on nt of the 
virulent epidemics which broke out among these large gatherings of 
people. 
In favourable situations in Sadiya the trees are of noble growth 
compared with those that form the copses. 
In addition to the grass lands at this isolated settlement a remarkable 
feature is the sterile aspect of some very large tracts covered by a 
close scrub composed of Solanum torvum and Flemingia congesta, but 
principally the eae 
rding this plant Captain W. H. Lowther sounded a o 
alarm in the Journal of the Agri-Horticultural Sety of India, Volant 
xi. (1861), page 290. - The article is entitled “On the mischievous 
increase of a gigantic species of Solanum on the North-East Frontier 
of Bengal, more especially in the Tea Districts of Assam.” 
He states that the plant tad identified as Solet torvum, Swa 
and that it promised to be one of the most stubborn and formidable 
antagonists with which Indian abc conem would ever have to contend. 
growth and productiveness had earned for it an evil repute. The fruits 
are too nauseous to be palatable to human beings, but e a are devoured 
by many animals and birds and the seeds always pass undi 
The military outpost at Saikwa on the Pakning W was deserted 
chiefly because it was overwhelmed by this plant, which no outlay 
could diminish or keep in check, and now, at Sadiya, on the opposite 
bank, the same state of affairs seemed imminent. The heaviest growth 
is observed on recently deserted fields. 
Fortunately we can say, after the lapse of 33 years, that the writer’s 
ears have not been realised and, although Solanum torvum is still a 
pest in the deserted homesteads of Upper Ass sam, it eni en 
to the influence of careful and continuous cultivatio Where 
flourishes (and that is never in the forests), it stands pearing aan 
