^ MONTHLY. IX> 
XX. 
COLOMBO, JUNE 1st, 1901. 
No. 12. 
HELOPELTIS. 
[Fi'om the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cei/ltm 
Circular, April, 1901] 
" WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE WANT TO 
KNOW ABOUT IT." 
ELOPELTIS Anfconii, tlie so- 
called "Mosquito Blight,"* 
was described by Di'. Sigiioret 
(a French Entomologist) troui 
Ceylon more than forty years 
ago in 1858. The description 
published in the Annals of 
the Entomological Society of 
France t makes no mention of the plant upon 
which the insect subsisted in those days, before 
the introduction of cinchona or tea. Cacao— ac 
cording to Trimen— had been established in Ceylon 
for some time previous to that date, and it is pos- 
sible that there was a sufficient number of trees 
to afford food for the HelopeUis. 
The recorded tood plants of the insect in Cey- 
lon are cacao (Theobromn cacao), the several 
species and hybrids of tea, cinchona, and annatto 
{Bixa Orellana). Besides these economic plants, 
I have observed HelopeUis feeding and breeding 
upon the "wax apple" (Eugenia aqxiem). 
The earliest notice of the appearance of Helo- 
peUis on cacao in Ceylon was in 1880 or 1881 in 
the Matale District. In 1884 Dr. Trimen exhib" 
* The popular name of " Mosquito Bh"ght " is anun- 
fortuoate one, and has led inauy planters— by a false 
analogy — to suppose that the HelopeUis may breed in 
Bwampy ravines and stagnant pools. The very slight 
resemblance to a mosquito is purely snperfiaial. The 
two insects belong to widely separate Orders, and 
undergo a very different development in their early 
stages. 
t VI., p. 502, 1. 12, II. f. 2 (lt58). 
ited specimens and read a short note upon their 
occurrence at a meeting of the Linnjean Society 
in London. It is remarkable that it was the 
damage done to the young leaves and twigs that 
then attracted the attention of cacao planters. 
At the present time it is the pods of the plant 
that suffer most from the attacks of the insect. 
With respect to cinchona, I observed it myself 
puncturing the young leaves of Cinchona led- 
geriana and officinalis in 1886 in the Pundalu- 
oya district, at an elevation of over 3,000 feet- 
An allied insect [H. hradyi), was reported to be 
iniuring cinchona in Java in 1882. 
I have found it difficult to obtain accurate in- 
formation about the appearance of the pest in 
the various tea districts. My first personal acquaint, 
ance with it was from specimens sent to me 
from the Morowak Korale district in 1889. But 
the earliest record is from the Kelani Valley, 
where it is said to have first appeared on an 
estate in \atiyantota in 1892, though it did not 
become plentiful until 1893, when it-was reported 
from several other estates. In 1893 the matter 
was brought rip at a meeting of the Kelani 
Valley Planters' Association, when concerted 
action was suggested, so it is probable, that the 
pest was then causing considerable injury to the 
tea. In 1890 my attention was drawn to serious 
damage by the insect to tea in the Kalutn.ra 
district. The pest was first noticed in Ud.agania 
in 1898. I have this year (1901) observed a few 
cases of attack in the Balangoda district. I am 
told that it has been noticed there for a year 
or more, but has not as yet caused any appre- 
ciable injury ; but it would be rash to snppo'^e 
that the pest will not increase if no attempts 
are made to check it. 
