78 KEPORT ON THE PADI-BORER. 
The antennz of the moth are carried, laid back on the 
wings, and have to be looked closely for, or they will pass 
unnoticed. 
Usually only one caterpillar is formed in a stalk of padi, 
but I have found as many as five on one or two occasions. 
Judging from the breeding experiments, several stalks may be 
required to afford sufficient food for the support ofa single 
carterpillar. 
Number of Broods. 
On the 29th April, or more than six weeks after the harvest 
in this district, I found in the padi stalks several minute 
caterpillars as well as many more advanced, in fact they 
ranged from one-eighth of an inch to full grown ones. I also 
examined a young stool of padi and found in it four or five 
chrysalides. This clearly shows that a brood has time to ma- 
ture before the padi has begun to throw up stalks, and taken 
with the presence of the caterpillars in all stages in the straw 
after the harvest, it is probable that three broods arive at ma- 
turity before the harvest, and that there are three more be- 
tween then and the next planting, making about six in the 
year. That would be two months for each generation. 
Natural Enemies. 
Out of one lot of four grubs raised by me, three were des- 
troyed by the larva of some other insect, and on an examina- 
tion of a padi field one day, I found no less than five live 
pupz and three empty cases of the same parasite, and not 
one single live pupa of the rice-borer, and only two or three 
empty cases. This parasitic larva is, therefore, one of the 
most powerful aids in ckecking the increase of these destruc- 
tive pests, and it would seem that, without its help, the culti- 
vation of padi in the Malay fashion would be quite impossi- 
ble. 
The parasitic insect, to which we are so much indebted, is 
a fly, in appearance much like a common house-fly; and its 
