Plant Sanitation. 



494 



[Dec. 1906. 



of water in rainy weather. They are a frequent but usually unsuspected source 

 of mosquito infection, especially of the small, striped day-fly iug species (Stegomyia 

 scutellaris). If the foliage of the plant is required for a screen, the flowers should 

 be cut off as fast as they appear. 



During the months of October and November enormous numbers of a 

 common brown moth (Oxyodes scrobiculata) were on the wing. They occur, about 

 t'his time, every year, and appear simultaneously all over the Island. The jungles 

 are alive with them, and they seem to be equally plentiful in grass land and scrub. 

 The large electric arc lights in Kandy were bombarded by them each night during 

 the flight. I have received specimens from numerous correspondents who reported 

 that they were swarming among the tea, giving rise to the fear that they might 

 be a new tea pest. It is remarkable that, in spite of the abundance of the moths 

 year by year at this season, the caterpillar is undescribed and unknown. It prob- 

 ably feeds upon some common weed. If it had a taste for tea., its depredations 

 would be so apparent that the caterpillars must have been discovered before now. 



An outbreak of the ' Arrakkodyan worm ' (Spodoptera mauritia) occurred 

 in the Mullaittivu district early in November. 



