Oct. 1, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL 
xVaRIOULTUmST. 
271 
TEA PESTS. . 
BEING EXTRACTS FROM NOTES ON INSECT-PESTS 
FROM THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION, INDIAN 
MUSEUM : 
(By E Barlow, Assistant in charge of Entomology ■) 
1. EUPROCTIS LATIFASCIA, WALKER. 
(sub-Old. H^^terocera, Fam. Lymantriiclre.) 
la March lb97, fiom Messrs. Andrew Yule & 
Co.. were reeeivpd some living specimens of a 
caterpillar wUicli had been doing- a great deal of 
daniatse to tea plants in the Darjeelinj; district. 
The caterpillars were saiil to be in millions and to 
be quite stripping the bushes of their old leaves. 
The caterpillars forwarded were evidently hill- 
grown specimens, as immediately on their arrival 
in the Museum, when transferred to a rearing 
cage, they began to transform themselves into 
ehrysalids. The moths which emerged after about 
twelve days, were identified as belonging to the 
species Enproctis latifascia of Walker, who de- 
scribes the female as follows : — 
White. Antennje with testaceous branches. 
Abdomen brown, white at the base, luteous at the 
tip. Length of the body 6 lines;, of the wings 20 lines. 
Hab. — Nepaul. 
According to SirGF Hampson, the species is 
identical with Walker's Eiiproctis antica and E. 
postica, and Moore's E. ahdominalis, which have 
been described thus :— 
Enproctis antica, Wlk. i and . White 
head, palpi, fore part of the thorax and fore legs, 
luteous in the male, testaceous in the female. 
Female.— Ahdomen and fore wings with a very 
slight testaceous ting". Length of th body 5-7^ 
lines; of the wings 12-18 lines. 
.ffa6.— Nepaul, Hong Kong, India. 
Enproctis 2}ostica, i. White. Palpi por- 
rect, smooth, hardly extending beyond the head ; 
third joint conical, not more than one-fourth of 
the length of the second. Antenn«> very broadly 
pectinated. Abdomen brown above ; apical tutt, 
small, white. Legs pubescent , hind tibia? with 
four long slendei- spurs. Wings rather short. 
Fore-wings rounded at the tipes; exterior border 
convex, very slightly oblique. Length of the 
body 64 lines ; of the" Avings 14 lines. 
Ha6.— Hindostan. 
Euproetis ahdominalis, Moore, S and p. 
Cream-white ; abdomen blackish ; and tuft och- 
reous ; legs white. 
Expanse, i 1 tV. ? 1 A i°ch. 
Hah. — Dhai msala. 
Allied to E. postica. Wings comparatively 
longer and narrower. 
2. THOSEA CERVINA, MOORE. 
(Sub-ord. Heterocera, Fam. Limacodidre ) 
In July 1894* were received from Messrs. Fin- 
lay, ]V!uir & Co. specimens of live cocoons, the 
caterpillars of which were reported to have done a 
good deal of damage to tea plants on the Kunga- 
muttee garden in Jalpaiguri. 
From the cocoons, two moths, a male and fe- 
male, were successfully i eared in ihe Museum ; 
these, however, proved to be unrepresented in the 
Museum Collection, but they were so far identified 
as belonging to the genus Thosea. For more precise 
determination, the female moth was sent to Sir 
G. F. Hampson of the British Museum who very 
* The account of this pest should have appeared in 
the preceding number of Indian Museum Notes, but 
owing to the delay in ascertaining the identity of the 
species it was withheld.— Ed. 
35 
kindly identified it as 2Yto«ea cefi/'i/iff, Moore, His 
description of the moth is given below : — 
Male. — Head, thorax, and abdomen red-brown. 
Fore-wing silky gray-brown, with a dark speck at 
end of cell, and a slightly incurved line from costa 
just before apex to near outer angle whicli is red- 
brown with a pale outer edge. Hind wing and 
underside dull blown. Antenna; with basal joint 
pale ; a consnicnons white spot at end of fore tibia. 
Female. — With the sub-marginal line of fore wing 
erect ; the basal joint of antennns dark : no white 
spot on tibia. 
Larva green, with a yellow-bordered dorsal irre- 
gular band, linear and purplish anteriorly, dilated 
at middle and cleft behind, purple streaked, and 
with the angles at middle red ; anterior and poste- 
rior subdorsal spinous tubercles ; lateral and sub- 
lateral series of longer tubercles. 
Hab. — Sikkiiii ; Ceylon. Exp.S'i^, 44 millim. 
The remedial measures suggested were that chil- 
dren might be employed to remove and destroy the 
caterpillars. If this were caiefuUy done, and if 
also the cocoons were searched for, in and on the 
ground near the aft'ected trees, and were destroyed, 
it would (if not of any immediate benefit) at any 
rate be likely to prevent or to alleviate a reoccur- 
rence of the pest in a future year. 
3. THOSEA DIVERGENS, MOORE. 
This insect is another addition to the Indian Tea 
pests, of the genus Ihosea. 
In March 1897, specimens of a living cocoon were 
sent to the Museum by Mr. J. W. Fleet, with a 
note, that they were taken from the Bishnauth Tea 
Gardens, Darraug, Assam, where they had been do- 
ing damage to tea bushes. 
From the cocoons, several moths emerged in the 
latter end of the month. They appeared to be new 
to the Museum collection and were forwarded to 
Sir G. F. Hampson who determined them as be- 
longing to the species Thosca divcrqens Moore, = 
Aphendali divaricata Moore. 
As the Museum Library does not possess Mr. 
Moore's description of T. divei-gens, it is not 
printed here, the description of .4. divaricata, how- 
ever, is quoted below. 
Aphcndctla divaricata $ . Upper-side pale 
purplish, brownish-ochreous. Forewing with a 
slender dark ochreous-brown band curving up- 
ward from posterior margin at one-third from 
the base to one-third before the apex, and from 
which a straight erect similar band extends 
from its costal end to the posterior angle. Body 
dark ochreous-brown. Expanse If inch. 
Hab. — Silcuri. Cach-ir. 
4. BELIPPA LOHOR, MOORE. 
(Sub-ord. Heterocera. Fam. Limacodida\) 
In March 1897, Mr. W. J. Fleet forwarded to 
the Museum several livine specimens of cocoon, 
with the statement that he ha'' collected them from 
the Salonah Tea Estate, Assa.n. About the same 
time similar (live) cococEf, were also seivt to tlie 
Museum through Dr G. Watt, Keporter on Eco- 
nomic Products to tt ij Government of India, as 
infesting tea plants in the Doom Dooma Tea Gar- 
dens, Dibrugarh, Assam. 
The samples of cacoons were separately con- 
fined in a breeding cage, from which, after a lapse 
of a week, moths besfan to emerge. Tiiese on ex- 
amination proved to belong to the genus Bclippa ; 
the species being new to the Museum collection. 
On submitting specimens of the moth to Sir 
G. F. Hampson for identification, he pronounced 
it to be identical with Belippalohor, Moore, the 
female being almost indistinguishable from that of 
Belippa laleana, Moore, and hitherto unknown to 
entomologists. 
