- 3 - 
in the older ones. The insect feeds almost exclusively on this plant, 
attacking other plants only after the castor-bean has been destroyed. It 
belongs to the family Noctuidae. It occurs throughout most of the provinces 
of India, and in Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Fox'mosa, and Queens- 
land. It has been questionably recorded from French Equatorial Africa. 
0- algira (L. ) is sometimes, though rarely, found in association with 
0. i anata in India. It also occurs in Egypt. 0. catella (Guen.) is very 
injurious in Africa, defoliating entire plantations in the Transvaal, Ital- 
ian Somaliland, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 0. a rctotaenia Guen. is re- 
corded from Formosa. 
P rod e n i a littorali s (Boisd.) causes severe injury to the castor-bean 
in India, although it feeds on a number of other plants. It feeds on the 
leaves, entirely defoliating the plant, and also bores into the stems. It 
causes more damage as a borer since in that way it kills the entire growing 
shoot. It occurs throughout the southern peninsula and -the hills and plains 
of India, and in Bihar and Orissa, Burma, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, Canton 
in China, Philippine Islands, Formosa, Egypt, Italian Somaliland, and 
Rhodesia. P. eridania (Cram. ) is injurious in Cuba and attacks the plant in 
Bermuda. 
He liothis obsol eta (F.) feeds on the seeds in the green capsules, 
causing considerable injury in the hills and plains of India. In the Baku 
district of Azerbaijan in the Transcaucasus, it is stated that when castor- 
bean plants grew in the neighborhood of growing cotton, the cotton was prac- 
tically free from the insect and also H. peltig era (Schiff.) the castor-bean 
apparently acting as a trap crop for these insects. H. o bsolet a, H. dip - 
sacea (L.), and Hel iothi s sp. are recorded from the North Caucasus of south- 
ern Russia as sometimes causing considerable injury. 
The following additional species of Noctuidae have been recorded as 
causing varying degrees of injury: Ti racola plagiata (Walk.) causes a great 
deal of leaf injury in the Malay Peninsula; Scotogramma trifolii (Rott.), 
Euxoa segetum (Schiff.), Plusia ga mma (L.), and Barathra b arassicae (L.), 
feed on the leaves in the North Caucasus; Eublemma brachygonia Hmps . in- 
jures the fruit in the Italian Somaliland and the Khartoum district of 
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; Ozarba b runnea (Leech) causes light injury in the 
Italian Somaliland; L aphygma exig ua (Hbn.) causes some injury in Sicily; 
and Gram -node s georoet rica (F.), causes considerable injury late in the 
season in Sicily. 
The pyralidid borer D ichocrocis punctif eralis (Guen.) is one of the 
most important insect pests of the castor-bean plant in India, ranking along 
with Ophiusa Janata in the amount of damage. It bores into the shoots, es- 
pecially at the junction of the main stems and the side shoots and leaves, 
and also attacks the ripening fruit in the seed capsules. It is a pest of 
regular appearance throughout southern India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, 
Java, New Guinea, and Taiwan (Formosa) . 
f-liycita diaphana (Stgr.) is very injurious in northern Africa, 
Algeria, and Morocco. The larvae feed on the leaves and the young flower 
