204 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[September i, 1890. 
peltucida, Stal. 
R'') rrt^' frcni iIj< Pl.i) ppines. Helopeltis collaris, 
E; poi < from the PL i] pf inf 8. Helopeltis podugnca, 
Cl^ «. 
TLe hBbitat ie not rt corded. Selopeltis romundei, 
Waterhouse. 
Hab Ja^'aton tea. 
We can testify from personal observation the 
truly fearful effects of Helopeltis on tea in Java; 
and the following full account of the Indian species 
shews how heavily it handicaps the Indian tea 
planters : — 
Helopeltis r/iavora, Waterhouse. Plate XU, Jig. 2. 
Helopeltis theiovora,? Moore, Wood-Mason, Tea-bug 
of Assam, p. 12 (1884) : Proo, Agri. Hort. Soc. Oalc., 
20 Nov. 1873, and v, p. xviii, xxviii (1878) ; West- 
woed, Gardener’s Chronicle, Feb. 21, 1874. Helopeltis 
theimru. Waterhouse, Trans. Ent, See,, p. 45, t. xi, 
f. 8 It'Se.) . 
5 Black : pronotum orai ge-yellow, with a o': ck line 
near the anterior margin, the base margined with 
black: scutellum brown, black at the base, spine or 
horn long, much curved, black, at the apex brown : 
antennse dark brown, basal joint paler, yellow at the 
base: femora dark brown, mottled with light brown, 
with a light-yellow ring at the base ; tibise light brown, 
speckled with dark brown (Wuterh.^ Reported from 
Assam. Sikkim. Easily recognisea by the long and 
curved’ spine on the scutellum. Mr. Moore does not 
appear to have described this species, so that Mr. 
Waterhouse must be considered as having named it. 
There does not appear to be any fixed time for the 
appearance of the insect or seasonal broods. Th e eggs 
are found apparently both in the axils ol tht \oung 
buds and on the lower leaves, but thif ' s ^a pu^iat re- 
quiring further examii ation. The larva la about 1-I6th 
inch long, obtuse, soft with a very small, clavate caudal 
appendage; colour amber-hyaline, but after sucking 
the juices of the green leaf for some time it becomes 
of a greenish colour. The head is horizontal; the 
rostrum is about one third to three eighths of the 
length of the body, and in repose lies quiescent on the 
pectus: two eyes, no ocelli: antennae purplish , heme- 
lytra rudimentary : gradually the insect increase 
in size and becomes of a deeper amber or orange 
colour, the antennae become longer and turn to black, 
and the insect is less active, though furnished with 
complete hemelytra, which with the head anO pronotum 
is black, whilst there is a broad white band on the 
abdomen. An observer informs us that the insects 
seem to commence tapping in February and go cn till 
the end of August. A young larva procured by nip- 
ping off the shoot, a leaf or two below the place where 
it was seen, was placed in a bottle with a shoot con- 
taining a pekoe bud and leaf and a pekoe-souebeng 
leaf. After 21J hours it was found that this single 
insect bad made 58 taps on the pekoe-bud, each marked 
by a discoloration of the epidermis ; there were 48 
marks m the pekoe-leaf and 18 on the pekoe-souchong 
leaf. The spots at first were of a browi 3’jlour but soon 
changed to black. Dr. Aleyboom states tb... these 
insects, in Java, repose during the da.'^ near streams 
and in moist ground, and feed by night, though a few 
may be found during the day in shady positions on the 
shrubs, hut not on the ground. The garden referred 
to was surrounded by paddy-fields and near a river, 
and seemed to he more liable to attacks in cold and 
wet weather. The insects in Assam are to be found to 
repose in shady positions beneath the shrubs, and do 
not leave the area of attack. The observations of Dr. 
Alenbot m would therefore appear to be not of general 
arp-citioD, but io have reference to the particular 
pos •!'>■ f‘f *h(- card: n r< ferred to. 
// ihdrcui 8 the idriii w ' vlich we are chiefly 
,, , I ,■ 1 , !■ (’ a. nic Mr. S. B Peal of Silis:igar was 
-.1. fir t ti !■ ilg riifi'c (^.J. II r. Agri. -Hort Scc., 
(acntta, I V (i;. p. It'fi, 1878) ihat tl e “black blight,” 
‘ s:nut,” &c., ' II u 11 W 'S thi work f this insect and not 
a spinl.ireons fungoid grciwfli. F’urilier mvestigatioiis 
have bh( wn that the a taeks of these insects occur 
under all coiiditiouB of soil and climate, in high land 
and low, dry or wet, rich and poer,in a dry, season as 
I had as in a wet one, and rs frequently with good 
culture and clean tea as with the reverse. That it is 
rot due to “ shade” or “want of cultivation” is 
shown by the fact that in the two worst cases, one 
had the garden particularly open, and in the 
other it was quite clean. It is difficult from one 
years a'tack to sav where the insect will appear the 
next year; all places appear to he equally liable to 
its ravages, but it seldom is seen over an entire 
garden at once. 
Mr. Peal states that the young leaf alone is 
first attacked, and the more tender and succulent 
the shoots are, the more they suffer. The shrubs 
show the shoots brown and withered in a garden that 
has for some time felt the attacks of the insect; 
but if only recently attacked, the general appearance 
13 normal, and nnlv on the youngest shoots and twigs 
are a lew^ small brown spots seen, the size of the 
spots Vfryirg wi'h the age of the irsfct causing them. 
If the insect he very yenrg. the puncturrs are minute 
Bi d close, and the ci nsequent disccloraticns coalesce 
ard beet me continuous. When the larva attains its 
full growth, these spo's beerme one eighth of an inch 
in diameter. When the punctures are recent, the 
colour is pale brewn and darkest at the edges; but 
if one or two days old, the spots are dark brown, 
verging on black, the entire leaf curling up and 
withering completely if they be at all close. Where 
the shrub has suffered for some time and severely, 
the symptoms are often less visible at first sight. 
The dead leaves have for the mest part fallen off and 
the minute shoots at the leaf-axils above show the 
damage, all being dried and dead; there is less dead 
leaf showing, but dead “tips ” appear everywhere. 
Further examination will show that the affected shrub, 
ere it ceased entirel' toshootout, bad made many efforts 
to grow, all of «h ch had proved abortive, and a branch 
that has not yielded a sing’e leaf p’csents all the 
appearance of having been very severely plucked. On 
the tips of the young vigorous shoot being punctured 
and its juices withdrawn by this insect, it has died 
as certainlv as if nipped off. When the eyes below 
the leaf-axil shoot out, and before the insect can do 
serious damage, one or two shoots may attain some 
size and bear several leaves, hut as the insect increases 
in size, these tips are attacked other shoots start 
from other eyes, atteini' g, however, less vigorous 
growth ; these too, in a short time, succumb, and the 
shrub becomes leafless. When this occurs growth 
ceases, as every shoot requires from 40 to 60 days to 
mature so 88 to befit for plucking, and the recovery 
of the tea is slow unless pruned. 
Dr. 0. Aleyboom of Java in the same Journal (v 
i), p. 55, 1878) describes the attacks of this insect on 
tea-shrubs there much in the same manner, except that 
he states that it attacks the under side of the leaf 
He adds that the insect inserts its rostrum and remain* 
for a long time on the same spot^ and some hourss 
afterwards the leaf shows a brown puncture that slowly 
turns black on the very spot where the punctnre has 
been made. If the leaf be punctured closely it 
bet-cmes black and so dry that it can be pul- 
verised by rubbing between the fingers, and ex- 
amination shows that the insect has removed all the 
juices from the soft part of the leaf. As in Assam, 
so in Java, the insect attacks first the buds and then 
the young leaves, and last of all the old thick leaves, 
until the shrub becomes leafiess, and to prune it in 
this state is hurtful. The denuded shrubs seldom 
make new shoots, for the insects after having des- 
troyed the leaves return to the parts of the twigs 
where the juices are gathering to send forth new 
shoots, and by suckii g the juices there effectUElly 
prevent the development of buils. By remaining leaf- 
less ti e bark whitens and the wood becomes dry, 
and if the attacks continue for two consecutive years, 
the branches become covered with moss and die. 
As already stated, these insects are reported in 
Assam to occur in all sorts of soils and under all 
almosphtric conditions. In Java, too. Dr, Aleyboom’s 
researches have led to a similar result. There the 
soils may he divided into two classes — [a) those eon- 
taming humus, and (h) those oompos;ed of itil cl.ij. 
