September i, 1890.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Washing the orange trees with a solution of whaie-oil 
soap (1 lb of soap to 5 gallons of water) has also 
been found useful against the rust mite, it is therefore 
suggested for Red spider, in case the sulphur treatment 
is not found to be successful. 
Through the OfiBciating Director of Agriculture in 
Assam wore received, in the latter part of August 
1 ast, (1) specimens of a caterpillar which had proved 
destructive to castor-oil plants, (2) specimens of Eri 
silt-worms {AUacus ricini) which had died of disease 
which had been very fatal to them in Oachar. 
The caterpillar proved to be the larva of theNoctues 
moth, Achaa melicerte of Drury, a species which has 
previously been reported as destructive to castor-oil 
plants in Lower Bengal and in Madras (vide vol. I, 
pp. 52 and 104 of these Notes). The insect is a common 
one and occurs in India, Oeylon, Celebes, and Australia. 
Millions of these caterpillars are described as 
emerging from the jungle in one night and eating 
up acres of castor-oil plants, grown for the feeding 
of silk worms. 
The following extract from the Annual Report, 1888-89, 
of theBhadgaon Experimental Farm has been furnished 
by the Revenue and Agricultural Department of the 
Government ot India ; — 
“In pursuance of Government Resolution No. 6093, 
dated 9th September 1887, Revenue Department, 
experiments were made to test the efficacy of O.S.o as 
a preservative of grain from the attack of weevils, 
and upon which a separate repert was submitted in 
August last. The observations were continued this year. 
“ A summary of the results of the experiments is 
given below : — 
(a) That soft varieties of grains such as soft wheats 
and jowari are sooner attacked with weevils than hard 
varieties, as bansi wheat, baji’i, &o. 
(b) That C.S.o is a perfect preservative against 
the attsck of weevils upon grain. 
(c) The action of O.S.j lasts in cases not hermeti- 
cally closed six weeks, after which period a fresh 
charge of the reagent is required. 
(d) That even in samples which have been attacked 
with weevils the effect of C.S.^ is immediately felt, 
the weevils disappearing eu masse. 
(e) That O.S. 2 does no harm to grain as regards its 
colour, smell, and cooking properties, &c. 
(/) That the poisonous property of 0-S.2 need in 
no way interfere with it introduction into Indian 
villages, as, unlike arsenic, its strong and repugnant 
smell will act as a sufficient safeguard. 
(ff) With the dismantling of the old granary, which 
had been used as a store-house for grain for the last 
nineteen years, weevils have almost disappeared from 
the farm. After a long and diligent search, I succeeded 
in observing only a few under the heaps of jowari ears 
in the threshing yard, so late as the 20th of the last 
month. This proves beyond doubt that wheat is 
damaged most by weevils in city godowns, ivhere a 
large quantity of it is stored every year before being 
shipped to Europe. 
(/i) It is therefore fair to conclude that painting 
the interior of the godowns with poisonous paints and 
charging the grain with C.S, 2 (in the proportion of 
14 h) of the reagent to a ton of grain) will reduce the 
damage caused by weevils to wheat and other grains 
to a considerable extent. 
In a letter, dated 13th July, hlr. E. Green of Oeylon 
wrote ; — 
“ The larva mines below the cuticle of the 
upper surface of tea leaves. I do not know that 
the i)68t is of any real importance, as it only attacks 
leaves too old for plucking. The habits of the larva 
are interesting, however. From its being laterally 
compressed, it accordingly rests upon its side beneath 
the cuticle of the leaf. It feeds very rapidly, clearing 
a space more than twice its own size in half an hour's 
time, — the head and anterior segments moving in 
regular sweeping curves like a mower with a scythe. 
Before pupating, the larva assume the nsual horizontal 
position, so that thepreparium rests upon its abdominal 
surface.'’ 
Tie specimen was submitted to M. Bigot, who deter- 
mined it as a Dipterous iuseot (Fam, Musoidso) belong- 
ing to a hitherto undescribed species of the genus 
Oscinis. 
Specimens of the Hesperid . butterfly, Oangara 
thijrsis, Fabr., have been received through the Director 
of the Forest School, Dehra, from the District Forest 
Officer, North Malabar, who reports that the cater- 
pillar is very destructive to young coconut palms. 
The following is extracted from his report : — 
“ The egg, which is spherical in shape, is laid on 
the upper surface of the frond. The larvm appear 
in from 8 to 10 days, and immediately draw a seotion 
of the leaf together, first cutting it laterally to 
enable it to be drawn into a cylinder by means of 
fine silken thread. In this cylinder the larvie live, 
travelling out at night to feed. 
“ In appearance the larvae somewhat resemble that 
of Attacus atlas, but are, of course, very much 
smaller. They are covered with white filaments which 
appear as if powdered with flour. There are two 
patches of scarlet on the segments near the head 
placed laterally.’’ 
Mr. E. E. Green furnishes the following notes re- 
garding the identification ot the species described in 
the paper by the late Mr. Nielner on coffee pests in 
Ceylon ; — 
Orgyia ceylonica, Nietner, is probably synonymous 
with Orgyia postica of Moore, the larvre of the latter 
often occurring in large numbers upon coffee trees : 
Trichia exigua of Nietner corresponds to Somena 
irrorata, Moore, or Somena sciniillans, Walker; 
Agrotis segetum ot Nietner is probably either 
conspurcata,^ Walker, or Agrotis suffwsa, Fabr.; the 
true Agrotis segetum not having been observed in 
Ceilon ; 
_ Boarmia cetjlanicaria is probah'y Boarmia, Walker; 
biffusaria, while the identity of Qlleriomorpha 
lichenoides has, it is feared, been compleLely lust. 
It is much to be regretted that representatives of 
the varions coffee pests that were described by the 
late Mr. Nietner were not deposited at the time in 
some local museum where they could be examined 
and their identification settled. It is hoped, however, 
that as specimens and information accumulate in 
the Indian Museum, it will be possible to determine 
and to publish accurate figures of at least the mar® 
important of the insects described by Mr, Nietner. 
From Messrs. Mitchell, Reid & Co., of Calcutta,, 
were received, on 29tb June 1889, specimens'of a scale 
insect determined by Mr. E. T. Atkinson as Leeanium 
there. Messrs. Mitchell, Reid & Co. wrote: 
“ We have received from our flolta Tea Garden' 
in the Kangra Valley, some prunings from a tea-bush 
showing a species of blight, which, our manager advises- 
us, has made its appearance and threatens to spread. 
The manager says it was first noticed in a garden 
which largely used castor cake for manure, and he 
expresses his opinion that the blight resembles 
that which affected and ultimately ruined the coffee 
industry in Ceylon .... The prunings, which we 
send herewith, show the blight referred to.” 
Or 3rd July Messrs. Mitchell, Reid & Co. again 
wrote ; — 
“ In a letter received from the manager this mor- 
ning he informs us that the pest is distinctly spread- 
ing, thoughin a most irregular manner. Healthy and 
weak bu^shes are alike attacked ; a few bushes may 
be attacked in the middle of a plot in the valley and 
the pest not ayjear again for miles, while some gar- 
dens have it in a much more aggravated form.’’ 
This insect belongs to the same genus as the well- 
known Coffee scale of South India and Oeylon, and there 
18 little doubt but that it can be destroyed by the 
kerosine and soap solution recommended for destroy- 
ing that insect. 
We have thus extracted matter^looally ip.terestings ; 
but all tea planters, we repeat, ought to secure copies 
of the number we are noticing for the sake of the 
plates, which includes no fewer than 13 pictures of 
ihS6Qt3 aud theif paits, proiuioeDce being 
