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The castor-bean plant has attracted attention as an alleged killing 
agent for insects. During the present grasshopper outbreak in the Great 
Plains, considerable attention has been given to the plant as a means of 
control of these insects. 
In 1931 the Japanese beetle was reported to have been strongly at- 
tracted to the plant and killed by feeding on the leaves. This report re- 
ceived so much publicity that tests were conducted by the Bureau of Ento- 
mology of the United States Department of Agriculture to determine the 
attractiveness and toxicity of the plant. In the cage tests the beetle fed 
on the foliage to a limited extent only, and there the plant was practically 
nontoxic; however, in certain field conditions the foliage of the plant ap- 
peared to be somewhat toxic. 
The literature contains only a few records of insects being poisoned 
by feeding on the plant. In Manchuria, adults of A ut o serica orientalis 
(Motsch.) are reported as being killed by feeding on the leaves. Many dead 
beetles of Ma ladera holos eric ea (Scop.) were found in the vicinity of the 
castor-bean plants in the North Caucasus in southern Russia. In Rumania, 
adults of Bothy noderes punctiventris (Germ.) died from eating foliage. In 
each instance cited it will be noted that the adults were killed. 
Grasshoppers are reported as being killed by feeding on the plant in 
Australia. There is also a questionable record of grasshoppers being killed 
by eating seedlings in Turkestan. 
In Brazil, the natives plant castor-beans in their gardens to protect 
their homes from ants. It is also stated that if castor-bean seeds are 
placed in the glowing fuel in the combustion chamber of ant fumigation 
apparatus, the fumes form a deposit in the nest that not only kills the ants 
but prevents others from reinfesting it. 
Owing to the increasing interest in the plant, a list of the insect 
pests has been compiled from the literature and other records. The in- 
sects have been divided into two groups, those attacking the plant in the 
continental United States and those attacking it outside the United States. 
As the plant is more important in foreign countries, that list is given first 
place. The localities are those from which the insects have been recorded 
on the castor-bean. Many of the insects have much more widespread distri- 
bution and other food plants. If an insect has been recorded as attacking 
the plant in the United States and also in foreign countries, it is mentioned 
in both lists. 
Insects Attacking the Castor-bean in Foreign Countries 
The insects are arranged by orders, the most injurious species being 
named first. The most important are leaf-feeding caterpillars, of which 
Ophiusa j^anata (L.) (^ 0. meli c erta (Drury) ) ranks first. The larvae are 
semiloopers and appear in hordes and entirely strip the foliage from the 
plant, leaving only the main stalks in young plants and leaf stems and ribs 
