Dec. 1, 1900.1 THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
373 
The moth nsually appears in from seven to ten 
day3' timB, though one of my correspondents tells me 
that 113 his kaowa tw-mty; days to elapse before its 
emergeace. It is an inconspicuous insect. The fore- 
wing^ of a pale red ^ish-oohraous colour, with some 
indfefl.iite diigonal lines The hindwings straw- 
coloured, without markings. The expanded wings of 
the female meisure nearly one inch. The male is 
sotne.vhat smiller and of a darker tint. When at 
rest the wings are folded so that their outline is like 
that of the section of a bell. 
The caterpillar of the Tea Tortrix makes itself 
obnoxious by its habit of spinning two or three tea 
leaves together and feeding upon the enclosed parts. 
When the pest is at its worst, the leaf may be destroyed 
over whole fields of tea, resulting in a very serious loss 
of fiuah. This species attracted notice ten years ago, 
and was reported, at intervals, from different parts of 
Dikoya and Dimbula. 
More recently a distinct species has come into 
promiiiencr in the same districts.* It may be called — 
No. 2— The " Variegated Tea Tortbix," Capua sp. 
The carterpillar is scarcely distinguishable from 
that, of No. 1. It is of the same pale-green colour, but 
the daik horny patch on the second segment is larger 
extending over the sides as well as the back of that 
segment. 
Tiie difference is more apparent in the moth, which 
is consid-rably smaller than that of Capua menicano, 
being little more than half the size of the latter. It 
is of a brownish colour, with a blackish spot at the 
middle of the front (costal) edge of the wing, a curved 
reddish-bi'own patch across the middle of the wing, 
and a similarly coloured patch across the extreme 
tip. Thece is a very prominent tuft of scales which 
projects on each aide from the base of the wings when 
they are folded. 
Prom oorL-espondence received, the pest seems to be 
most in evidence during the period from October to 
the fallowing April. It is noticeable that the worst 
att cks are reported in alternate months, viz., October 
Dicember, February, and April. I do not find that 
the amount of rainfall has any very marked effect 
upon the prevalence of the pest. Eeturns from an 
estate in Oik-iya show that there was a very bad 
attack in October, a wet month, durini; which 23.73 
inches of rain fell on 24 days. The previous month 
had also been wet, I3*78 inches falling on 19 days. 
The next bad attack was in the first half of Decern-, 
ber, with only 5 wet days, after a comparatively dry 
November. 
A report from Pundalu oya notices a severe attack 
in February- M arch, both dry months, following a dry 
January. On this occasion the pest was said to 
disappear with the April showers. 
It would appear that the caterpillars are not 
directly affected by the weather, though they may 
be indirectly so. For when — as often occurs at the 
climax of the plague — an epidemic attacks them, the 
mo st atmosphere during rainy weather will be most 
favoarable to the rapid growth of the disease. And 
this I have repeatedly found to be the case. 
The districts chiefly affected by this particular 
pest are Dikoya, Dimbula, Pundalu-oya, and Amba- 
gamuwa. The following quotations from correspon- 
dence will give a good idea of the destructive habits 
of the insect : — 
"Dikoya, l7ch December, 1899.— The fields attacked 
are generally three to six months after pruning, 
just when the very best flushes are coming on. ..... ... 
I collected in cooty sacks the eaten leaves and 
burnt and buried them, often burning 400 to 500 lb. 
a round On Friday last I had 80 pluckers, 
and we did 20 to 25 acres, and collected and buried 
600 lb of this leaf. It is a great loss and delays 
all the work, besides the extra expense in collecting 
ai:d burying. We have had these visitations before, 
but I have never seen it so bad as it has been this 
year, and it materially reduces the yield. I pluck 
regularly so as to try to Keep ahead of the caterpillar, 
but so far have not succeeded in keeping it under." 
• See f oot-nota on page 372i ' 
Hatton, 3rd February, 1900.— Period from brood 
to brood of the carterpillar pest : three montha. 
Duration of chrysalis stage : 20 to 21 days. [Thia 
is an unusual length of time ; in my breeding 
cages moths appeared after 8 days, — E.E.G.J.... 
The pest does not seem to be much affected by 
weather, as the caterpillar glues leaves together with 
silk, and so is not much washed by rain. It prefers 
a sunny slope, and is not so marked where tea ia 
exposed," 
"Pundalu-oya; 7th May, — I always notice that 
after the first spell of wet weather the caterpillars 
seem to die off. This season the attack began in 
December, earlier than usual, owing to failure of 
north-east monsoon rains, I had the caterpillars on 
surface of bushes thoroughly removed every 8 days 
when field was plucked, but it was impossible to 
get all those in centre destroyed ; coolies could not 
see them, nor could I. The effects, however, were 
manifested later on by the riddled appearance of 
bushes. Here the Tortrix only attacks tea 9 
to 12 months after pruning, just when it should be 
flushing its hardest, I calculate I have lost from 30 
to 50 lb. made tea per acre ou the 60-acre field 
attacked this season," 
It is evident, from the above correspondence, that 
when once the pest has reached the destructive 
stage, it is practically impossible to keep it under by 
hand-picking alone. It will run its course and die 
off from natural causes after reaching its climax. 
But I must again repeat that by proper attention 
during the off-season the pest may be prevented from 
getting ahead. When it has become widely established 
the most likely means of checking its course would 
be to spray the trees — as suggested above — with 
arsenate of lead, Paris green, or some similar poison, 
immediately after a round of plucking, the bushes 
being then allowed to run for from 10 to 12 days 
before next plucking. The leaf then plucked will 
have developed since the application and will be 
quite free from the poison. In the meantime — if 
the work has been thorough — most of the cater- 
pillars should have died from eating the poisoned 
foliage. 
No. 3.— The !' Leap Roller, "Gracilaria theivora 
Wlsm. 
Egg : deposited singly on the under surface of tho 
leaf. 
_ Caterpillar : pale yellow or greenish, with an indis- 
tinct darker line along the middle of the back. A 
few short colourless bristles scattered over the body. 
Length about three-eighths of an inch. 
Moth : fore-wings dark purple-brown, shining with 
iridescent tints and crossed by a triangular yelloW 
patch ; hind-wings dull black; front of head bright 
yellow ; thorax purple brown; abdomen black above 
yellow beneath. 
The life-history of the insect is interesting. The 
following description is extracted from my early 
work on " Insect Pests of the Tea plant " (p. 62):—" 
" The egg is deposited by the parent moth on the 
under side of the leaf. As soon as it is hatched the 
young caterpillar burrows into the tissue of the 
leaf and passes its early life as a leaf-miner. Its 
track is visible on the under side only, and always 
terminates on a small pocket formed by folding 
over a portion of the edge of the leaf. In this 
recess the caterpillar sheds its skin, after which it 
deserts the burrow and takes to the leaf-rolling 
business. If the leaf in which it has been mining 
is still tender enough for its purpose, it sets to work 
on the spot ; but should this leaf be too old and hard 
the caterpillar will travel along tho shoot to the nearest 
soft one and roll it up from the tip to about 
the middle, fastening the sides together with silk. 
Within this shelter the insect passes the remainder 
of its larval period, feeding upon the inner folds of 
the leaf. Sometimes two or more of the larvae live 
together, but usually each roll is occupied by ft 
single tenant. When about to change into a ohrf- 
sails, the caterpillar spina a flat silken cocoon in ft 
shallow depressioo on the leaf. After about tw<3 
