JiHLTURBL PESTS

- OF- INDIA.

:ER a, SON, LTD.

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA,

AND OF

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA.

MORRISON AND OIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.

THE

AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA,

AND OF

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA,

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL,
INJURIOUS TO MAN AND HIS PRODUCTS,

BY

SURGEON GENERAL EDWARD BALEOUR,

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL-ROYAL GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, VIENNA

FELLOW OF THE MADRAS UNIVERSITY;

AUTHOR OF

'THE CYCLOPEDIA OF INDIA AND OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA,'
'THE TIMBER TREES OF INDIA AND OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA,' ETC. ;

FOUNDER OF THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS 5
OF THE MYSORE MUSEUM, BANGALORE; ETC.

LONDON:
BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY.

1887.
[Copyright ; all rights reserved.}

TV no i c tr

ENTOMOLOGY

PREFATORY REMARKS.

THE blights and murrains of India have hitherto had
their only record in the pages of journals and newspapers,
or occasionally in official reports ; but, as the correspond-
ence below will show, effect has now been given to my
recommendation to have periodical reports on occurring
pests, reports are coming to hand, and the need for a
more accessible registry has suggested this book.

The expediency of having the text illustrated by plates
and wood engravings is under consideration.

EDWARD BALFOUR.

31^ March 1887.

From Surgeon General Edward Balfour to the Under
Secretary of State for India.

2 OXFOED SQUARE, HYDE PARK, LONDON,
Sth August 1885.

SIR, — The article ' Insects ' in the 3rd edition of the
Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia,
is, I think, the first attempt to give a general view of the
entomology of that wide region. This is, in many ways,
a very difficult branch of natural history ; but this article
was prepared and printed by me under the care of two

6 PREFATORY REMARKS.

scientific men, one of them ranking among the most
learned of living entomologists, and I was favoured also
with counsel from Miss Ormerod, who, in this country,
annually reports on the insects injurious to food crops,
forest trees, and fruits, and the prevention of insect
ravages.

The like of Miss Ormerod's form of reporting has
never been done for India, although every year to
some extent, and from time to time largely, losses occur
there from the pests which attack agricultural produce.
India has hitherto been remiss in this matter, contenting
itself with references as to individual insects or blights
to such persons as were thought likely to be able to give
information. But the subject is of far too great import-
ance to agricultural India to be left to be treated in so
casual a manner, and the special knowledge now avail-
able might be utilized to describe the insects which injure
the agricultural, horticultural, and forest produce of India,
suggesting means of preventing, and remedies for same.

The reports should be restricted rigidly to the injurious
insects, and should be half-yearly, to fit in with the two
great agricultural seasons. — I have, etc.,

EDWAKD BALFOUR, Surgeon General.

To Surgeon General Edward Balfour, 2 Oxford Square,
Hyde Park, W.

INDIA OFFICE,
24th September 1885.

SIR, — I am directed by the Secretary of State for
India in Council to acknowledge with thanks your letter
of the 8th ultimo, with reference to the preparation of

HALF-YEARLY REPORTS RECOMMENDED. 7

official annual reports on the insects destructive to crops
and forests in India ; and to inform you in reply that a
copy of it has been forwarded to the Government of
India. — I am, etc., HORACE WALPOLE.

To Horace Wcdpole, Esq., C.B.

2 OXFORD SQUARE, HYDE PARK, W.,
28th September 1885.

DEAR SIR, — I sent to Miss Ormerod copy of my letter
of the 8th August, and copy of the Secretary of State's
letter of 24th instant in reply.

I enclose now copy of the acknowledgment of these
which Miss Ormerod has written to me.

I beg the favour of your submitting to Her Majesty's
Secretary of State that if this correspondence could be
printed and circulated from here, all the entomologists
and their entomological societies in all Europe could aid
in this very important investigation. There are only a
very few in India. I have no doubt but that I could
distribute usefully 200 copies. — I am, etc.,

EDWARD BALFOUR.

To Surgeon General Edward Balfour, 2 Oxford Square, W.

DUNSTER LODGE, SPRING GROVE, ISLEWORTH,
25th September 1885.

DEAR MR. BALFOUR, — I am very much obliged to you
for favouring me with a copy of your letter to the Under
Secretary of State for India relative to the importance of

8 PKEFATORY EEMARKS.

acquiring serviceable information regarding the injurious
crop insects of India, and also kindly giving me a copy
of the official reply.

I do not see that you could do better, as a commence-
ment, than thus bring the subject shortly and clearly for-
ward ; and, as far as I can form an opinion, I think that
the course you suggest would be the constant means of
saving thousands of pounds yearly — occasionally (perhaps
more than occasionally) of saving millions. I found this
opinion, of course, on consideration of the unremunerative
outlay so often occurring on some of the great crops,
notably (as coming specially tinder my notice) the loss
by ravage of coffee-plant grubs.

The information that is needed could be given by
plain and simple jotting down by various persons of
what they themselves have observed.

One man notices, perhaps, how deep the grubs go ;
another, how long they live ; and so, by collating the
points, we get to know the whole history of habits,
which is what is needed to work on. It may take a
few years to get the whole life history of the insects,
but we soon get in the way mentioned above (on which
plan my own reports are formed) to learn the main
points, and then all observers are requested to find the
missing part of the history.

If reports were formed in this way, there would very
shortly be a great increase of useful knowledge through-
out the Indian empire.

I present my reports yearly to the contributors, thus
they take a personal interest in the work, and, what is
immensely important in things of this kind, the book
comes to them on publication ; they have not the
trouble of ordering it. The expense would be a mere

MISS ORMEROD'S SUGGESTIONS. 9

nothing to Government, seeing that I, a private indi-
vidual, have now for eight years, without the slightest
assistance, carried on the work in England.

The great mistake is in waiting until attack is un-
usually destructive, and then consulting those who,
though eminently skilled in classification of insects, have
no idea or well-founded knowledge of the points of
agricultural treatment or forestry which must be brought
to bear on the insects in some special stage of their life.
Likewise (as occurred not long ago) to advise reliance
011 the insectivorous animals of England for help in
India or Ceylon is a decided mistake.

If, from the long experience which I have now had of
gaining information on insect attacks and forming it into
readable shape, you think any suggestions on my part
would be of service, I should be most happy to give any
attention in my power to the subject. But, meanwhile,
I may most truly say that if the crop, or timber, or fruit
growers of India were furnished with plain and com-
prehensive accounts of the history and habits of the
common insect pests, accompanied by woodcut figures,
so as to convey the appearance of the pests without
wearisome description of details, that all this would be
a national benefit, soon paying the outlay hundreds of
times over. — With renewed thanks, I am, dear Mr.
Balfour, yours very truly,

ELEANOR A. OKMEROD.

P.S. — Pray make any use you may think fit of this ;
it will give me pleasure for it to be of any service.

E. A. 0.

10 PREFATORY REMARKS.

To Surgeon General E. Balfour, 2 Oxford Square,
Hyde Park, W.

INDIA OFFICE,
±th November 1885.

SIR, — I am directed by the Secretary of State for
India in Council to acknowledge with thanks the receipt
of your letter of 28th September last, enclosing an
interesting communication from Miss Ormerod on the
subject of the insect pests of Indian crops and forests.
In reply, I am to inform you that a copy of this cor-
respondence has been forwarded to the Government of
India ; and that another copy of it, and of your previous
letter of the 8th August last, has been sent to the
Society of Arts, for publication in their widely circulated
Journal. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

J. A. GODLEY.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

AGRICULTURAL PESTS are the foes of man. The injuries
which they inflict on man, on the products he has reared,
and on the animals he has domesticated, are observable
in every - day life, in the field, the garden, the poultry
yard, the horse and cattle sheds, the sheep pens, and
elephant and camel karkhanas. No country is free from
them, but in British India there are conditions peculiarly
favouring their presence.

The census of 1881 showed its population to be
198,790,853 souls, of whom 69,952,747 were agricul-
turists, 220,803 horticulturists, 35,076 arboriculturists,
and 990,342 were tending animals.

In 1884 — 85 the revenue of British India was
Es. 70,69,06,810, of which the land-tax yielded
Es. 21,83,22,110; Es. 8,81,64,690 were derived from
opium, and Es. 98,69,840 from forest. In that year
22,425 human beings were killed by elephants, tigers,
leopards, wolves, bears, hyaenas, and venomous snakes;
and of cattle killed the number was 49,987. The
numbers engaged in agriculture, the great revenue obtained
from the lands, and the losses the people are exposed to
from wild beasts, all indicate the need for protective
measures ; and there has been a beginning made : —

In Ceylon, Travancore, Bengal, Burmah, and Siam,
arrangements have been made by the respective Govern-
ments for snaring elephants ; also in India rewards of a

12 THE AGEICULTUKAL PESTS OF INDIA.

hundred rupees and upwards are given for killing tigers
and man-eating leopards, with smaller sums for killing
snakes; also, as anthrax, epizootic aphtha, dysentery,
and rinderpest carry off the cattle of the cultivators
in great numbers, how to ward off these murrains has
been a subject of serious thought. In the early part
of this century, the pioneer on this line of economic
research, Dr. Gilchrist, of the Madras Medical Service,
wrote A Practical Treatise on the Treatment of the
Diseases of the Elephant, Camel, and Horned Cattle, with
Instructions for Preserving their Efficiency, and ever since
then the diseases of these animals have been receiving
the attention of the Commissariat and Veterinary Depart-
ments. The Madras Government has recently appointed
an inspector, deputy-inspector, and local inspectors of
cattle diseases. This is a useful step, because these
domestic animals are the Indian husbandman's sole
wealth. But the pecuniary losses from the ravages of
animal and vegetable pests on the cultivated products of
the country have never yet been made the subject of
general inquiry, although seemingly their extent, even in
comparatively favourable years, may be estimated at a
large share of the gross revenue of the country. A
subject of such moment might well have received early
attention. Hitherto, however, India has been contenting
itself with making references as to individual insects or
blights to such persons as may have been deemed likely
to furnish information regarding them. But the subject
is of far too great importance to be treated in so casual
a manner ; and in 1885 I suggested that the special
knowledge now available might be utilized to describe
the insects which injure the agricultural, horticultural,
and forest produce of India. Her Majesty's Secretary of

COFFEE AND COTTON INJUKIES. 13

State forwarded on that letter to the Government of
India, and sent a copy of it to the Journal of the Society
of Arts, in which it appeared on the 13th of November
1885, with an accompanying letter from Miss Ormerod
supporting my views. The extent to which agricultural
produce is destroyed by animal and vegetable pests may
receive a few illustrations. The annual crop of cotton of
British India may be estimated at 6,419,718 cwt.,
valued at seven crores of rupees. I have seen, I think in
the Zoologist, a statement by the United States Agricul-
tural Commissioner, to the effect that in parts of India
one-fourth of the cotton crop is sometimes lost from the
ravages of the larvre of one insect, the Depressaria
gossipiella. In Ceylon the loss to the coffee planters
from several tiny vegetable and animal pests was great ;
but that industry was finally ruined by a fungus, the
Hemileia -vastatrix, which spread through the island and
the plantations in the Peninsula. Mr. Thiselton Dyer,
in a letter dated Kew, 12th January 1881, addressed to
the Colonial Office, mentions as an estimate by the Kev.
E. Abbay for the five years up to 1871, that the average
yield of coffee in Ceylon had been 4*5 cwt. per acre,
whilst for the five succeeding years the average had been
only 2*2 cwt. Also, that for the ten years 1869 to
1878, Mr. Abbay had estimated the total loss due to the
leaf disease at from £12,000,000 to £15,000,000,
The ' Acreage under Coffee ' after 1 8 7 0 * had decreased

Acreage under Coffee.
* 1870, . . . 203,909

1871,
1872,
1873,
1884,
1885,

196,881$

182,342
177,980
231,976
192,434

14 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

somewhat, but nothing to account for the crop falling off
to half the previous yield.

India and Ceylon agriculturists are not solitary
sufferers. In England the annual yield of the hop
plantations, as the Edinburgh Review tells us, is about
7 cwt. per acre. But a serious blight occurred in 1882,
and it was estimated that the whole produce of the hop
land in England (65,619 acres) did not exceed 114,839
cwt., or an average yield of Ij cwt. per acre. The
injury inflicted on the hop growers in that year by the
hop aphis (Aphis humuli), one of the ten different genera
of insects that attack the hops, amounted to the value of
£2,700,000.

Eussia has not escaped. The yield of its corn crops
sunk from the rate of 8*3 bushels per acre in 1875 to
that of 5*1 bushels per acre in 1883, from the ravages of
insect swarms.

In France the phylloxera, which has infested the vine-
yard in 53 departments, made its first appearance in
1865, and was reported on in 1884. The vineyard
surface existing before the malady was 2,485,829 hectares,
but at the time of the 1884 report it was reduced to
2,056,713 hectares. Measured by the production of
wine, the yield of 1874 was 63,000,000 hectolitres. In
1879 it sank to less than 26,000,000, but in 1884 it
recovered to 35,000,000.

The Commissioner of Agriculture for the United States
has mentioned in his report of 1874 (page 164) that
their annual losses of cotton from ravages of cotton insects
amount possibly to half a million bales in years of insect
prevalence. One-fourth of a million bales, he says, would
be deemed a light infliction, and yet, at $100 per bale,
such a loss would be equivalent to $25,000,000. Again,

WHEAT AND COKN IXJUJRIES. 15

we are told of the Diplosis tritici, the wheat midge of
North America, that in 1854, in New York alone, it
destroyed the wheat crop to the value of £3,000,000.
In Ohio, in the same year, it was still more hurtful ; and
in Canada it destroyed 8,000,000 bushels of wheat.
Later on, in 1864, the cash value of the wheat and corn
destroyed in the State of Illinois by the chinch bug was
estimated at $7 3,00 0,000. Still more recently, in 1 8 8 2,
when the total public revenue of the United States was
$524,000,000, the annual value of the agricultural
produce consumed by insects has been estimated, at the
lowest, at $200,000,000, and by Mr. E. D. Walsh at
$300,000,000.

For some years past the Governments of India have
been recommending to the people improved implements
of husbandry, but the above details will have shown
that protection against animal and vegetable raiders is a
great, it may be even a greater, want. To make these
enemies known, and to indicate measures likely to check
their ravages, are the objects in view in publishing this
volume. The larger quadrupeds are becoming fewer
under the hand of man, but there are other foes preying
on the produce of the fields, and husbandmen may
legitimately look to their rulers for counsel how to defeat
these enemies, and secure for the increasing population
a larger share of the crops. In so praiseworthy a pursuit
agricultural India might reasonably hope for help from
some of its own people, and they may certainly trust to
the learned men of Europe and America for all the aid
that science can afford. I have already to acknowledge
valued assistance from the library, the entomological, and
the botanical departments of the British Museum of
Natural History, and the library of the Colonial Office as

16 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

to Ceylon. Professor Westwood, of the Oxford Univer-
sity Museum, in January 1885, revised what I had
then written as to destructive insects ; and Mr. Water-
house, of the British Museum, revised nearly the whole
in manuscript and the proofs as they passed through the
press. The article ' Coleoptera ' is from his pen, and
that on ' Fishes ' is chiefly by Dr. Francis Day, C.I.E.

The alphabetical arrangement has been adopted for the
contents, that being deemed the most suitable form in
the present state of our knowledge.

The people of India are skilled in the use of all the
implements of husbandry, and in applying manures
economically, although in the latter they are far excelled
by the Chinese. But in protecting their crops and in
cleanly cultivation, India is greatly behind.

One of the protective measures against insect ravages,
which is strongly urged on cultivators in all countries, is
to change the crops in successive years. Each insect
species has its own particular plants on which alone it
lives, and when deprived of food by a change in cultiva-
tion, they die. The cucumbers, the rice and cotton
plants, the tea and coffee shrubs, the bamboo, the sal,
pine, and fir trees, have each their own enemies ; and on
land where a rotation of crops is followed, the parasites
have to seek fresh marauding ground once a twelve-
month or oftener, and are frequently kept away entirely
or for a considerable period by an absence of their special
food. Mr. Scott says that a steady system of rotation of
cereals generally with the pulses, would to a certainty
impair the fecundity of the chief ravagers of the food
crops, — the grub, maggot, and caterpillar forms, — as few
of the insects with which the cultivated crops have to
contend find a common food- stuff on the cereals and

PROTECTION BY INSECTIVOROUS CREATURES. 17

pulses. A large percentage of them would thus be
destroyed from season to season, before they reached
their particular food-stuff.

Man may enlist the aid of the natural enemies of
these marauders. All insectivorous creatures should be
encouraged and protected. Of birds may be named
crows, shrikes, woodpeckers, titmice, jays, starlings, lap-
wings, plovers, domestic fowls, and guinea-fowls. Insects
are kept under by all the woodpeckers, conspicuously the
Chrysocolaptes sultaneus, Chrysonotus Shorei, and Brachy-
pternus aurantius. The eggs and larvae of insects are the
natural food of the Sittinse or nut-hatches, the Certhias or
true creepers, and the Parrinae or titmice. The hard-
bodied beetles and other Coleoptera are, in their perfect
or imago state, eagerly seized while on the wing by
shrikes, drongos, crows, rollers, bee-eaters, thrushes, etc.
The crow and the myna are the incessant foes of the
cricket and grasshopper family. The Cheiroptera, bats,
the Insectivora carnaria, and the Viverra, civets, are all
insect feeders, and render valuable service to man.

The Acari and Ichneumonidae are destructive to cater-
pillars and grubs ; the ichneumons destroy the larvae of
many species of gall-flies. The lady-bird beetles, species
of Coccinella, are natural enemies of the aphides. The
families Chalcididse, Crabronidae, and Proctotrupidae are
parasites. Aphides or plant-lice can be kept under by
squirting a solution of soft soap mixed with a decoction
of quassia. Traps may be used for caterpillars, baited
with their favourite food ; fires may be lighted to stifle
insects with the smoke ; the cockchafer (Melolontha
vulgaris) may be attracted by a lantern and intercepted
with a small mesh net. The adjutant birds, Leptoptilos
argala and L. Javanica, and the mongoos, Herpestes

B

18 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

griseus, are the foes of snakes, and are protected in India ;
and India has now a close season for some birds and
mammals.

Some plants are known to have protecting qualities.
Linnaeus, writing of the primrose, says, ' Sheep and goats
eat it, cows are not fond of it, horses and swine refuse it.'
Mr. Scott tells us that while other crops suffered, various
umbellifers, which are cultivated in India for their
aromatic properties, as the Anethum sowa, Coriandruni
sativum, Foeniculum panmori, F. vulgaris, Petroselinum
sativum, and Ptychotis ajowan, had a complete exemption
from insects of all kinds. A crop of white mustard kills
or. scares the wire-worm. Dill grown in cabbage beds
protects the cabbages from caterpillars. The Sesamum
ladicum is afforded protection from insect attacks by the
presence of glands, which, as yielding a sweet secre-
tion, are sedulously haunted by a common ant. W.
Bancroft, writing in 1878, mentioned that he had with
advantage sown the Dolichos lablab and Cajanus Indicus
pulse among the sugar-cane fields, for the purpose of
attracting the ichneumon flies which destroy the cane
louse. Frogs avoid localities where valerian is grown,
and the hellebore is said to have protective virtues. The
Dekhan ryots protect their crops from deer by sowing
safflower as an edging of their fields. As to crickets,
free irrigation brings them to the surface of the soil
and makes the grasshoppers skip out from their leafy
harbourings. Thinning, weeding, watering, hand-picking,
and dusting \vith quicklime and wood-ashes or soot,
are useful means of keeping them under. Pyrethrum
carneum, Biebers ; P. roseurn, Biebers ; and P. Willemoti,
Duchartre, plants of the Caucasus, merit cultivation in
India. The United States Patent Office Eeport for 1862

PYRETHRUM, CAMPHOR, ETC., PROTECTIVE. 19

declared the powdered leaves to be superior to camphor,
pepper, or other insect destroyer. The powder is used
pure, or mixed with ten to twenty times its bulk of wood-
ashes or flour. It is useful against insects injurious to
agriculture, horticulture, and domestic economy ; useful
to protect wool, furs, and feathers, collections of natural
history, as mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, and chiefly
against weevils, beetles, crickets, roaches, moths, wheat-
flies, fleas, maggots, midges, plant-lice, earwigs, spiders,
ants, etc., alike in their larva form and as perfect
insects. It is recommended to be blown on plants in the
field, hot-house, and conservatory, by means of bellows ;
to be dusted and blown into walls and furniture, and
sprinkled upon feathers, furs, and woollens. In Southern
Dalmatia, the powder of the straight-leaved pepper- wort,
Lepidium ruderale, Linn., is used against fleas. In
Southern Bussia, Aristolochia clematitis, Linn., is used
against bugs. In the United States, the powder of the
M-ood of Cedrela odorata is used against all noxious
insects.

Cleanly farming is an indispensable duty in all efforts
that may be made to keep away insects. Granaries and
store-rooms, walls and floors and rafters, should be care-
fully brushed and washed with hot water, and ail the
sweepings and dust burnt.

Many weevils are impatient of light, and are destroyed
in stored grain by frequently turning it over, and
occasionally running it through a winnowing machine.
Sprinkling powdered camphor in the store also kills or
disperses them. Cultivators should remove all dead
wood, all withered branches and shoots, and all the bark
from stakes, posts, and palings; burning all unrequired
chaff, all infected branches, all stubble, rubbish, and all

20 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

field and barn refuse. Dead leaves and other vegetable
substances, not thoroughly and completely decayed, 'are
almost sure to introduce destructive fungi. Manure
heaps should be kept aloof from the neighbourhood of
infected places, and suspected manure turned and treated
with lime. Beat all hedges and keep all ditches clean.
Keep land free from weeds, remove grass all round fruit
trees, and all of it from orchards. Kerosene, paraffine, and
petroleum have all been found of use. They can be
mixed with earth, ashes, or sawdust, and sprinkled on
infected beds of vegetables, or a kerosene solution may
be thrown on plants with a syringe. For the latter mode
of applying it, it is made into an emulsion, diluted with
water, and used at once ; for if allowed to stand the com-
ponent parts separate. Kerosene, one quart ; milk, twelve
ounces ; emulsify by active churning. For use, dilute
with twelve to twenty times of water. Or, take soft soap,
one quart ; water, one gallon ; bring to a boil. Add one
gallon kerosene to twelve gallons soap solution. Many
other substances have been recommended to be used to
check mischievous insects, — the other hydro - carbons,
paraffine, and petroleum, also tar, gas-water, ashes, soot,
quicklime, lime, and camphor. The stems of plants and
bushes near the ground are advised to be painted with
limewash ; sulphates of iron and copper and nitrate of
soda are also used.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 21

Acarina. An order of insects of the class Arachnoidea.
Their species are the mites. The families are arranged
by naturalists as follows : —

Tetranychidae, spinning mites.

Trombidiidae, harvest mites.

B'dellidae, snouted harvest mites.

Hydrachnidae, water mites.

Gamasidse, insect mite parasites.

Ixodidae, ticks.

Halacaridae, marine mites.

Oribatidae, beetle mites.

Acaridse, true mites, viz. :

1st section, Hypoderidae, subcutaneous mites.
2nd „ Hypopodae, ichneumon mites.
3rd „ Tyroglyphidae, cheese mites.
4th „ Sarcoptidae, itch and louse mites.
.5th „ Phytoptidae, gall mites.

Many of this order of insects, the mites, the ticks, the
itch and louse, cause much annoyance and discomfort,
alike to man and to domesticated and wild animals. Dr.
Pereira found the addition of a few drops of acetic acid
an effectual remedy against the attacks of the Acarus
domesticus mites. Cheese mites are harmless when
eaten.

Achaea melicerte, Hubner, a moth of the family Dys-
goniidae, occurs in Ceylon, and at Bellary in the Ceded
Districts, and was named by Drury Phalaena noctua meli-
certe. Its larva is called Thondala hoola in Canarese.

212 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

They feed on the castor-oil plants, the leaves and flowers
of which they eat ; on two or three acres of land, in one
night, they will leave nothing but bare branches. The
plants seldom survive their attack, and at best yield only
one-fourth of the produce. The cultivators drive them
from the plants by smoking ; but this is impossible of
application when seeds are sown on an extensive area, in
which case the husbandmen give up all hopes of the
crop. The adult larva has sixteen legs, the first pair of
middle legs aborted; two dorsal red tubercles on twelfth
segment ; colour bluish-grey, numerously speckled with
bluish-black; a lateral and sub-lateral yellowish band,
with an intervening bluish-grey line ; spiracles and fore-
legs red ; a dorsal black stripe, bordered by reddish-white
spots, between fifth and sixth segments ; head black
striped. Pupa formed within a leaf. — W.-M.

Acheta. A large species of Acheta attacks the cas-
uarina trees. It lodges at the foot of the tree, and at
nightfall ascends the tree and cuts off the young top
shoots. — See Gryllidse.

Actinias and Medusas have more or less urticating
properties. The latter are of the class radiata, and
are commonly known by the name of sea-nettle and
jelly - fish. The Acting are polyps. A cyanea of
Pondicherry secretes an extremely acrid and irritating
fluid. The Physalia, or Portuguese man-of-war, also
causes a considerable amount of irritation, the stinging
sensation continuing for hours. Physalia is a colony, the
individuals of which are called zooids. Some are for
locomotion, others are feeders, and have other purposes,
but they all look alike, the appearance presented being a
blue, entangled, jelly-like mass of threads, coiling, con-
tracting, extendiog, floated and suspended from a rich

THE AGRICULTUEAL PESTS OF INDIA. 23

balloon-like bubble. The tentacles are covered with
delicate cells, each of which contains a minute coiled dart
or lasso, and if a foreign substance corne in contact with
the tentacles, millions of these weapons are hurled into it,
producing a peculiar paralyzing effect.

Agrotis segetum, Steph., Schiff. Noctua segetum of
India and High Asia. The larva of this moth is the
very destructive ' black grub ' of the Ceylon coffee planter.
This pest is about an inch long, and is most abundant
from August to October. The caterpillar lives in the
ground, but comes out at night to feed, and is very
common and injurious. They attack not only coffee
trees, but all sorts of vegetables and flowers, and are very
destructive to gardens and in the field, as they eat every-
thing that is artificially raised, despising grass and weeds.
They generally appear only on certain fields, and will not
go over an estate. The insect is not confined to Ceylon ;
its ravages are well known in India, at the Cape of Good
Hope, and Europe, where it injures the grain and beet-
root crops. In Ceylon it only attacks young coffee trees,
gnawing off the bark round the stem just above the
ground. Where the trees are very small, they are bitten
right off, and the tops sometimes partially dragged under
the ground, where the grubs may easily be discovered and
dislodged. The damage which they inflict on planta-
tions may be estimated when it is mentioned that Mr.
Nietner lost through them in one season, in certain fields,
as many as 25 per cent, of the young trees he had put
down. A. aquilina is a species of High Asia. — N.

Alope ocellifera, Walker (A. ricini, Fair.}, one of the
Lepidoptera, is a species of moth belonging to the family
Arctiidee. It occurs in Ceylon, in the Northern Circars
and Bengal, and has been described in Mr. Moore's

24 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Lepidoptera of Ceylon, vol. ii. pp. 70-106. In Calcutta,
the caterpillar feeds on the castor-oil plant, to which it is
said often to do great damage. In the half-year ending
30th June 1886, the caterpillars in three taluqs of the
Vizagapatam district caused considerable damage to the
crops of Sesamum orientale, Eleusine coracana, Penicillaria
spicata, and cotton. In the Vizianagram taluq the value
of the Sesamum crop destroyed was estimated atEs. 20,000 ;
and in parts of the Gajapati-nagram taluq this plant was
so badly destroyed that it had to be ploughed up and
other crops raised in its stead. Bain fell in June, and
the insects appeared soon after. Being innumerable, the
endeavours of the people to collect and destroy them proved
futile, though the only remedial measures that Mr. Wood-
Mason can suggest are for the ryots to destroy as many
eggs, caterpillars, cocoons, and moths as possible, and that
the castor-oil plant, the natural food, be grown in all
waste places. The caterpillars are known to the people
as the c Cumbly poochie,' two Tamil words meaning
'blanket insect/ and the ryots allege that their crops
suffer almost every year. The moth measures from 1-|-
to 2 inches across the extended wings, and from 1^ to 1^
inches from the forehead to the end of the closed wings,
the female being the larger. The front wings are greyish-
brown, with six cross bands composed of irregular-shaped
dark-brown spots edged with pale yellow ; the hind wings
are red, with some dark-brown spots usually more or less
joined together so as to form three cross bands in the female.
The head, the thorax, and the legs are greyish-brown ; the
abdomen is red, with brown spots along the middle of the
back and along the sides. The caterpillar is dark brown,
with thick bundles of brindled hairs springing from
twelve longitudinal rows of warts. The pupa or chrysalis

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 25

is also dark brown, and it is enclosed in an oval cocoon,
strengthened and protected by the probably poisonous
hairs of the caterpillar interwoven with the silk. — W.-M.

Amoeba. Sheep in certain country districts of New
South Wales are liable to a disease somewhat resembling
epithelial cancer. It is produced by an amoeba, which
affects the hoofs, lips, and nostrils of sheep and lambs.
The epithelium grows with great rapidity, the wool drops
off* in the parts attacked, and a festering sore is estab-
lished. In studying the surroundings of the flocks so
affected, and by a process of artificial breeding in an
aquarium, Dr. Lendenfeld found that the disease is due
to an amoeba (A. parasitica) which enters into wounds
made by the spines of the variegated thistle. This plant
grows in profusion about the feeding grounds. The
amoeba, having gained an entrance through a wound,
multiplies very rapidly between the epithelial and horny
layers of the hoof. This disease appears very closely to
resemble the fungus-foot disease among the natives of the
Madura district of India. The amoeba reproduces itself
by simple division. — Dr. Lendenfeld in Pro. Linn. Soc.,
New South Wales.

Amphistoma conicum, ' cone - shaped fluke.' Very
common in the ox, sheep, musk ox, elk, fallow and red
deer, goat, etc. Moisture being essential to the develop-
ment of the fluke-larva3, sheep cannot be infested so long
as they remain on high and dry grounds.

Amphistoma hominis is a parasite afflicting the natives
of Assam. It belongs to the trematode or fluke order of
helminths. — See Distoma.

Ancylonycha is a genus of the Orthoptera ; some species
attack the coffee plants of Ceylon. — See Lachnosterna.

Anobium. One species of this genus of beetles is known

26 THE AGRICULTURAL TESTS OF INDIA,

as the death-watch, from its making a tapping noise like
the ticking of a watch. They feed on old dry wood, etc. —
See Book-worm.

Anthrenus. — See Coleoptera ; Dermestidre.

Ants are great destroyers of seeds, fruits, and sugars,
Formica saccharivora, the sugar ant, is supposed to get at
the saccharine juices of the sugar-cane. The red ant, a
species of Myrmica, bites severely. They avoid turmeric
powder. They can be attracted into a cocoa-nut shell
with the kernel in it, and destroyed. Formica gigas, an
ant of the East Indies, has a female an inch long. The
Dimya, or great red ant of Ceylon, bites with intense
ferocity, and the bite of the Kaddiya, another species, is
much dreaded.

Aphidse or plant-lice are to be seen on almost every
plant in the field and garden, and from their numbers
cause great injury to cultivated plants. One British
species is the hop-fly, Aphis humuli ; another of Europe
is the destructive vine blight, Phylloxera vastatrix. They
live on the leaves and tender shoots of trees, shrubs, and
herbaceous plants, which they pierce in order to suck out
the juices. Some of the aphides which reside in cases
are small Hemiptera, belonging to the subdivision Homo-
ptera, and to the family of the Hymenelytra.

The aphides multiply enormously. Eeaumur cal-
culated that five generations proceeding from a single
mother, if no obstacle intervened, might give rise to
the astounding number of 5,904,900,000 individuals,
and some of them cause great loss to growing crops.
One of the most curious of their cases is that which is
known as the Chinese gall, from Aphis Chinensis, Bell.
This case grows on the leaves of Distylium racemosum,
Zucc.t a large tree of Japan, belonging to the family Ham a-

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 27

melida (Decaisne). According to M. Guibourt, it is
also developed on the buds of the tree which is com-
monly called in Japan, Ou-pey-tse, Ou-pei-tse, Woo-pei-
tse. Some galls are useful. False gal]s are found on the
Pistacia vera, P. terebintha, and the P. lentiscus. The
insect which produces them is the Aphis pistacise, Linn.,
a small black insect, with a roughened thorax, very long
legs, and white wings. A species of aphis attacks the
cotton plant in India. Aphides are readily destroyed
by water charged with metallic iron. The food of the
Coccinellce, lady - birds, consists almost exclusively of
aphides. Other aphidivorous insects are numerous
minute Hymenoptera, species of the families Cynipidse,
Ichneumonidse, and Chalcididas; and among the Neuroptera,
species of Chrysopa or golden eyes. On the mango,
peach, and other trees of the Calcutta gardens, there is
to be seen the sweetish substance known as honey-dew,
supposed to be an excrementitious deposit from aphides.
To remove it, syringing with water, or soft soap and
water, is recommended. Ants eat this honey-dew. The
aphides, when in large numbers, injure .young shoots and
twigs. A very pretty little one is found in Kamaon on
the ' dabree ' tree. They excrete a white substance of a
sweet taste, which cakes on the leaves. Another aphis
is found on the sal or Shorea robusta.

Aphis coffeee, the coffee louse, is found in small com-
munities on the young shoots and on the underside of
the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, but occasions little injury.

The t'hela disease is caused by the Aphis lanigera, a
viviparous wingless parasite, with a flask-shaped body,
six feet, two antennae, two tubes at abdominal extremity,
a haustellum for puncturing, and a sucker for extracting,
and within this transparent sucker a perfect apparatus

28 THE AGRICULTUEAL PESTS OF INDIA.

resembling a hand-pump ; the sucker is fixed, the minia-
ture piston plays, and the sap — the life-blood of the
plant — is absorbed, and its leaves are destroyed.

The oily (t'hela) honey-dew on the leaves is greedily
eaten by the red and brown ants, Formica rufa and F.
fusca ; and should the exudation be scanty, the ants, with
their antennae, stroke and fondle the aphis until a supply
be secreted. Both sexes only exist in August, and one
congress yields the young for six generations. After
pairing, the female deposits eggs, which in four days
animate. Immediately, from every pore in their bodies,
springs a cottony substance, which covers and protects
them, and they eat the leaf. As they grow, their white
cover vanishes, and pale-orange wingless insects appear,
the ' koongnee ' of the Jats.

The Aphis lanigera does not attack cotton plants grow-
ing near hemp. They are destroyed by the lady-bird
(Goccinella) and by the lace-wing (Chyrosopus). — Ed.
Rev., Oct. 1886; Moquin Tandon.

Apidse. A family of hymenopterous insects, popularly
known as bees. The principal genera are Apis (the
honey bees), Melipona, Trigona, Bombus (the humble
bees), Apathus, Anthophora, Xylocopa (the carpenter
bees), Englossa, Osmia, Megachile (the leaf-cutting bees),
Anthocoma, Nomada, Halictus, Sphecodes. Some bees in
the East are markedly revengeful and even aggressive.
At the Harn Pal, on the Nerbada, bees have twice caused
Europeans to be drowned. The common hive-bee of
Britain is Apis rnellifica ; the ' Italian bee ' is Apis
ligustica; the principal honey bee of the East Indies is
the Apis dorsata.

Araneidae, the spiders, an order of the Arachnoidea
class of animals, of which several thousand species are

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

known. They are among the most powerful insect
friends of man, and they contribute more perhaps than
any other family to check the too rapid multiplication
of insects. The families are —

Mygalidce or crab-spiders, with the genera Mygale,
Atypus, Cteniza, Actinopus, Nemesia.

Theridiidse, genera Latrodectus and Theridion.

Lycosidre, wolf - spiders, genera Lycosa, with other
thirteen British families.

Species of the Mygalidse and Lycosidse are among the
pests of India. Spiders are kept under by their attacks
on each other ; they are at war with all small insects ; they
are eaten by monkeys, squirrels, lizards, and frogs, and a
genus of birds, the Arachnothene, the spider hunters of
India and Malayana, are their natural enemies.

Arctia. A genus of moths belonging to the Bombyces.
There are several species in India, one of which, Arctia
Horsfieldi, attacks the cotton plant.

Argades are arachnida which are closely allied to the
ticks ; they differ from them by the inferior situation
of the mouth, and by their free conical palpi composed
of four articulations. There are several species. Argas
Persicus, Fischer, is common at Miana, in Persia. Its
size is about that of the common bug ; the body is rough,
of a blood-red colour, and covered with some elevated
white spots ; these parasites attack man. In Persia
it is said that they give the preference to strangers (?)
The bite produces acute pain, and it has been even
asserted that they may bring on consumption and death.
Species of argas occur in Europe, Africa, and America,
— lischer; M. T.

Artaxa guttata, Walker. Its larva attacked a castor-
oil plant, sown in England.

30 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

B

Badhya, of Hindustan. Blight attacks growing sorghum,
penicillaria, and zea.

Bakoli, of Hindustan. A green caterpillar which destroys
rice crops.

Bala, of Hindustan. A grub which eats the young
shoots of wheat and barley when about six inches high.

Bangka, or Katua, of Hindustan. A beetle which eats
the rice plant. The scientific names of these four are
desiderata. Vernacular terms vary in different places.

Batoeera. A genus of Longicorn coleoptera, of the
family Lamiidse. There are several species in India,
varying from three to five inches in length, with long-
spiny horns. One of them, Batoeera ruber, the
curuminga beetle of Ceylon and Southern India,
penetrates the trunks of young cocoa-nut trees near
the ground, and deposits its eggs near the centre. The
grubs, when hatched, eat their way to the top, and destroy
the leaf. Sometimes a whole plantation is attacked.

Bear. — See Mammalia.

Beer Casks. — See Tomicus.

Bees. The popular name for the hymenopterous
insects of the family Apidse. — See Apidse.

Beetles. The popular name for insects of the order
Coleoptera. Beetles are very numerous, and a few of
them are useful to man ; others destroy timber and
seeds. A red beetle of Northern India is described in
Mr. Firminger's book on gardening as very destructive
to cucurbitaceous fruits. Species of Cerosterna, Euchirus,
Ligurus, Lucanidse, Melolonthidre, are among the more
destructive. — See Coleoptera.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 31

Belostoma Indicum. A large water-bug.

Blight is a general term in husbandry, commonly
applied to denote the effects of disease or other occurrence
which causes plants to wither or decay.

Blister-beetles. — See Cantharidse.

Bombyx. A species known to the natives of India as
the Bhooa and Euro bhooa, has a caterpillar which feeds
on the castor-oil plant and Cocculus acuminatus. The
insect deposits its eggs in flimsy cocoons on the lower
surface of the leaves of the castor-oil plant. Each brood
contains about 300 individuals ; and for a few days
after the young caterpillars emerge from the eggs, they
form a dense, wriggling, maggot-like swarm, each a line
in length, thread-like, and of a greyish colour. These
rapidly increase in size, are extremely voracious, and
devour each other, at least 75 per cent, being thus
destroyed. Mynas and other birds shun them. The
full-grown caterpillar is from 1^ to 2 inches in length,
of a dull olive-green, with dorsal and lateral stripes of a
blackish-brown colour, and with fascicles of long silky
hairs. The moths emerge from the cocoon in 15 or 20
days. They are of a pale buff colour. Mr. Scott supposed
that the insectivorous birds avoid the caterpillar of this
bombyx, from its mimicry of a smaller one also affecting
the castor-oil plant, very similar in colour and shaggi-
ness, but with brittle hairs which cause intolerable
itching if applied externally, and, if taken internally,
give rise to dangerous and not infrequently fatal conse-
quences. Goats and buffaloes are so affected on swallow-
ing one or more of these caterpillars with the castor-oil
leaves. The first symptoms are inflammation of the
bowels, followed by excessive purging, which not infre-
quently ends in death.

32 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Bombyx, sp.} the Tiliayakura of the natives of Hindu-
stan, appeared in Behar in 1877—78 on the poppy plant,
causing great destruction. — J. Scott.

Book-worm, the death-watch, a beetle which bores
through the leaves and boards of books ; it is a species
of Anobium. Among the insects which infest books in
India are two useful genera, the chelifer and the
iepisma, known respectively as the tailless scorpion and
the fish insect. Both of these shun the light, but they
pursue and greedily feed on the larvre of the death-watch,
and the numerous acari and soft-bodied insects which
prey on books. Leaves of the margosa tree are placed
in books to protect them, as also the powdered leaves of
Justicia gandarussa. The seeds of the Nigella sativa and
camphor are placed among the books to scare insects. —
See Anobium.

Borer. A popular term adopted in India to designate
several different insects which bore into and destroy
economic plants. A borer-worm of India, with a white
flaccid body and reddish -hued head, is described as
committing great havoc in gardens and shrubberies of
Southern India. It attacks all manner of shrubs and
trees indiscriminately, piercing the stem about two feet
from the ground, and then boring downwards through the
root into the earth, and effectually killing the tree or
shrub. Eucalyptus, acacia, and woodbine or honey-
suckle appear especially subject to its depredations. — See
Batocera ; Diatrcea ; Tomicus.

Bostrichus. A genus of the Xylophagi. The species
chiefly affect the dead wood of forest trees. — E. T.

Bots are larvse of insects of the family QEstridse. — See
(Estridae.

Brarrah, of Swat. A wood-louse that infests houses in

THE AGKICULTUPvAL PESTS OF INDIA. 33

which old mats are lying about. Their bites become
red and inflamed. Its scientific name needs to be
determined.

Brassica campestris, Linn., sub-species B. napus, Linn.,
the rape, is peculiarly liable to the attacks of a species of
blight, and in damp seasons in the North- Western Pro-
vinces, every plant in a field is not uncommonly covered
with tiny insects (aphides), which suck the sap from the
flowering shoots, and effectually prevent any seed from
forming. — D. & F. — Vern. Eai. — Sarson.

Bruchus and Rhynchites are weevils of the family
Ehynchophora, order Coleoptera. They are small, but
their ravages are of the highest detriment to the repro-
ductiveness of the forests of the North- Western Provinces.
Entire seed crops of the Shorea robusta were destroyed
in the year 1863. All the weevil family insert their
eggs in the stigma of the flower, which, when developed,
has introduced the young larvae (which are hatched
meanwhile) into the recently formed fruit or pericarp.
In this the larvae live till nearly mature, when, by their
encroachments towards the stalk, they cause the seed or
fruit to fall, and they escape into the earth to undergo
the transformation into the pupa state. Species of
bruchus are highly destructive of the forests of Northern
India. Bruchus weevils attack most leguminous seed-
pods, — peas, beans, gram ; and live in the seed till per-
fectly developed, when they escape by making an oval
or circular orifice. Bruchus granarius, Linn., is the bean-
beetle of Europe. Two species of bruchus attack the
stored poppy seed both in the larva and perfect state.
One of them, about four lines long, is of a brownish
colour, with its wing cases striated. It rapidly shells the
seeds, which also are injured and united by the gluey

c

34 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

nature of its excrement, the pellets becoming enveloped
in a pale rose-coloured mould, — the Dactylium roseum,
— which soon destroys their germinating power.

Another species of smaller size also injures the poppy
seed.— E. T.; J. Scott.

Bug is a popular term applied to several genera of
noxious insects, usually to those of two families of
Hemiptera. Cimex lectularius, the bed bug, one of the
Cimicidae, belongs to the order Hemiptera and to the family
Geocores ; they are very troublesome in Indian houses.
Notonecta glauca, of Europe, is a species of water bug,
commonly known as the boat-fly. Plant bugs of the
order Heteroptera, families Scutata, Coreida?, and Phy-
tocoridae, live upon plants, trees, and shrubs, and feed
upon the juices which they suck out of the soft tissues,
many of them attacking juicy fruits. It was the bugs
and the borers chiefly that ruined the coffee industry
of Ceylon, with the loss to the Europeans engaged in
it of millions of gold. Other insects active in the work
there have been the mealy bug, Pseudococcus adonidum ;
a black bug, Lecanium nigrum ; a moth, Agrotis segetum ;
the white bug, a species of Ancylonychus, one of the
Coleoptera, and the brown or scaly bug, Lecanium coffeoe ;
but the Aphides or plant-lice, with species of the Lepido-
ptera or butterflies, and the moth Phymatea punctata,
have aided in the ruin. In Europe, Lecanium hespericlum,
one of the Coccidse, attacks the orange, and Coccus
adonidum is often mischievous in hot-houses. The stones
of the Cordia myxa of the Kainaon forests are sucked by
a large red bug.

A green bug of Burma, one of the Tingidsc, is very
injurious to fruit. They suck the juice of oranges through
the skin. The paddy bug of Burma sucks the paddy

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 35

before the husk has become hard. It is a species of
Cimex, or one of the Scutellerida3, and whole fields of
rice are sometimes abandoned in consequence of the
devastation it commits. Some of the bugs are most
attractive in colour ; a green one is often seen on leaves.
They are quite inoffensive if unmolested, but if irritated
exhale an offensive odour. Hem Chundra Dutta of
Calcutta says that if mulberry trees be grown in the
coffee plantations, the coffee bug forsakes the coffee plant
for the better-liked mulberry leaf. — E. T. — See Cimicidae.

Bunka, of Hindustan. A hairy caterpillar that eats the
leaves of the cotton plant ; it has not been identified.

Buprestis is a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera,
family Serricornes. The larvae are very destructive to
living and dead vegetable substances. The Buprestidaa
are peculiarly forest insects, and in Northern India attack
the timber of coniferous trees.

A small species of Buprestis, along with a Cerambyx,
attacks the wood of the Shorea robusta, in the forests of
Kamaon and Garhwal. The grubs of the Buprestidaa
family exist in timber for a number of years before turn-
ing out the perfect insect. After acquiring maturity, they
bore into the timber to the depth of two or three inches,
and then undergo their metamorphosis. These beetles
often render timber unfit for use. They commence
underneath the bark. The larvae of a species of Buprestis
was found by Mr. R. Thompson boring two or three
inches into felled logs of sal (Shorea robusta), in the
Kotree Doon. He found another Buprestis in the dead
timber of a living acacia catechu tree, and another in the
trunk of a living mango tree. A small Buprestis of a
shining colour is frequently found in the timber of the
Cheer pine, Finns longifolia, quite destroying the logs

36 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

It is only in the bark that the females can deposit their
eggs, the sapwood and newly-formed bark affording the
larva nourishment; and to protect felled timber, the bark
should be removed as soon as the tree is felled. — It. T. —
See Coleoptera.

Burying-beetles. — See Coleoptera ; Silphidse.

Buthus afer. — See Scorpion.

Butterflies are said to be 10,000 or 12,000 in number.
Few of them have an economic value, and many of their
caterpillars are very destructive to the leaves of vegetables.
Some butterflies have a wide range. Danais chrysippus
butterfly extends from Greece to the East Indies. It is
mimicked by Elymnias undularis, Argynnis niphe and A.
inconstans, Hypolimnas misippus, Euphoedra eleus, Papilio
merope, and Chary atis phileta. Others are objects of
wonder. Kallima inachis is the leaf butterfly of India,
and K. paralekta, of Sumatra, resembles dead leaves.

Cajanus In<[icus,Sprcnycr, the pigeon-pea, has its principal
enemy in frost ; in the North- Western Provinces a single
cold night utterly ruins the crops of a whole district. —
D. & F. — Vern. Arliar, Dal

Calandra. A genus of insects belonging to the order
Coleoptera, family Ehynchophora. Some of the calandra
group are particularly destructive to grain, pulse, and
millet ; others attack the sugar-cane and the palmyra tree.
Several of the species of calandra are popularly known
as weevils. C. granaria is the grain weevil ; C. oryzae is
the rice weevil, which destroys rice, maize, and other
food-grains ; C. palmarum injures the palmyra tree ; C

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 37

sacchari injures the sugar-cane. C. comuta is the common
maize weevil of Bengal. — J. Scott. — See Coleoptera ; Cur-
culionidos.

Cannabis sativa, Linn., the hemp plant, is grown through-
out all the south of Asia ; that of the North- Western
Provinces is by the lowest class of cultivators, and the
phrase, ' May hemp be sown in thy house/ is one of the
commonest abusive imprecations. Its several products,
charras, bhang, sabza or siddhi, ganja, are hurtful intoxi-
cants. They are indulged in by the men of several of
the races of India, and insanity has often been traced to
their use. Women are not addicted to their use. A
person intoxicated with charras is often unconscious for
a day or two. — D. & F.

Cantharidse. A family of insects with irritating pro-
perties. The blistering flies of India are chiefly the
Mylabris or Meloe cichorii, the Cantharis gigas, and the
Cantharis violacea. Mylabris cichorii is common in the
neighbourhood of Dacca, in the Hyderabad country, in
Kurnool, and numerous other localities. Dr. Hunter
published a good account of this in the fifth vol. of the
Transactions of the Asiatic Society, p. 216. The insect is
about an inch long, and one-third broad; the elytra or wing
coverts are marked with six cross stripes of deep blue and
russet brown. The Cantharis violacea is often mixed
with specimens of meloe in the bazaars. The Telini fly,
if procured before the mites have commenced its destruc-
tion, yields on an average one-third more of cantharidin
than the Spanish fly of the European shops. The blue
fly is of uncertain strength ; Meloe trianthema is so called
from its being usually found on the plant named Trian-
thema decandra (biscopra, Hind.). The Indian blistering
beetles, Mylabris pustulata and M. punctum, are found in

38 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

large quantities at certain seasons all over Southern India,
M. cichorii and M. pustulata are used by the Chinese.

Meloe is a name given to a genus of insects allied to
Mylabris and Cantharis ; they are remarkable for the
shortness of the elytra and the absence of wings. When
the larvae are born they attach themselves to hymenopterar
which are searching for food ; by this means they are
transported to the nests of the bees, where they continue
to live and complete their development. When a meloe
is irritated or attempted to be captured, it discharges from
the joints of the legs a viscid acrid liquid, of a yellow
colour, and having the odour of amber or of violets.

' The vesicating insects possess a singular softness
of the elytra and the integument, differing from that
of other insect tribes. The explanation of this fact is
found in the histological, and not on the chemical,
characters of the wing, as was at one time supposed.
Between the two layers, which are connected at their
edges by chitin, there is a considerable space, and the
two layers are connected by chitinous pillars, which,
although thin and delicate, form substantial supports. In
most other insects the chitinous layers are much thicker,
the pillars more numerous, and the spaces are almost
obliterated. The peculiarities noted have, it is believed,
much to do with the irritating nature produced by minute
particles of wings when applied to the skin of human
beings.'

Capnodium mangiferum inflicts injury on the trees it
inhabits similar to that of the coffee-rot. It obstructs
the stomata of the leaf to which it adheres. The Arto-
carpus integrifolia, Ficus asperrimum, Mangifera Indica,
Sponia Wightii, are their favourite trees.

Carthamus linctorius, Linn., plants are reported to

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. o9

suffer occasionally from an insect known as the ' al.' The
people imagine that if there be lightning while the heads
are in flower, great injury is occasioned. This is sown,
intermixed with other seeds, to keep off deer, as they
dread its prickly leaves. — D. & F. — Tern. Kit-sum.

Cassida, sp., the tortoise beetle, attacks the artichoke. —
K T.

Caterpillars. The caterpillars of Orgyia Ceylanica,
Euproctis virguncula, Trichia exigua, Narosa conspersa,
Limacodes graciosa, and a species of Drepana, do not
cause much injury to coffee. One caterpillar, however,
the Zeuzera coffese, destroys many trees, both young and
old, by eating out the heart. It resembles the caterpillar
of the great moth of England, and is as thick as a goose
quill. It generally enters the tree 6 to 12 inches from
the ground, and makes its way upwards. The sickly
drooping of the tree marks its presence. Caterpillars of
the Boarmia leucostigmaria and B.- Ceylanica, also those
of Eupithecia coffearia, are found on coffee and other
trees in Ceylon from September to December. Some
Ceylon caterpillars sting ; one of them — short, broad, and
pale-green, with fleshy spines, that feeds on the Carissa
jasminiflora, and stings with fury — is of the moth Necera
lepida, Cramer (the Limacodes graciosa, West.). The larvae
of the genus Adolia are hairy, and sting with virulence.
That of an undetermined species of moth of Bengal causes
great damage, its broods successively appearing with every
young crop. They are preyed upon by the crows and
mynas. Another undefined caterpillar, when young of a
uniformly pale-green colour, infests the poppy plant in its
later stages, and feeds alike on the leaves and maturing
seeds. It gradually acquires a yellowish-brown tinge,
and finally a dull grey, with two lateral brown stripes.

40 THE AGRICULTUKAL PESTS OF INDIA.

It attacks only the exhausted capsules, and destroys the
seed. They are kept under by the pied starling, or ' ablaq
myna/ the Sturnopastor contra of naturalists.

A small white round worm, in the Vizagapatam district,
is found at the root of young graft mango trees, which
they kill. Their presence is detected by a loosening of
the earth around the root-stem, and the presence of small
ants of a grey colour, covering the ground. It, too, awaits
identification.

Many caterpillars exactly resemble in tint the leaves
they feed upon, others are like little brown twigs, and
many are so strangely marked or humped, that when
motionless they can hardly be taken to be living creatures
at all. — J. Scott ; Tennent's Ceylon. — See Butterflies.

Cecidomyia oryzse, Wood - Mason. About the year
1879-80, an insect in Monghir threatened to become
very destructive to the rice crops. Mr. Wood-Mason
identified it as belonging to the genus Cecidomyia, and as
related to the Hessian fly which ravaged the wheat fields
in the United States. This genus, Mr. Wood -Mason
says, had never before been found in India, and he pro-
posed to call the species Cecidomyia oryzse, or the rice-fly.
He considered it as likely to prove a most formidable
pest, and recommended that the district officers should be
instructed to make further inquiries, and carefully watch
its progress.

Cecidomyia tritici and Lasioptera obfuscata are wheat
midges. The former is the Hessian fly of Europe and
America, and the latter is of Great Britain. Those of
India await attention. — W.-M.

Cerambyx vatica, E. Thompson, has been so named by Mr.
Thompson because of its peculiarly attacking the wood of
the sal tree, Shorea robusta : not, however, in its healthy

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 41

and vigorous state ; but no sooner has the flow of healthy
sap ceased, than a host of young larvae of the Cerambyx
vatica are hatched. This species never attacks the timber
when the bark has been removed ; and it is only after
the tree has been killed and the bark allowed to remain
that it is resorted to by the beetles for the purpose of
breeding. This and a little buprestis are the only beetles
that attack sal wood in the forests of Kamaon and
Garhwal. — E. Thompson.

Cerambyx, sp. In some localities of Kamaon and
Garhwal, however, the larvae of a species of Cerambyx
attack the young saplings in the sal forests to a very great
extent. Like the grub of the Prionus on the tea plant,
this Cerambyx first bores downwards, then up, destroying
the pith, and eating for itself a round channel, extending
from the root to the highest point that the insect can
reach without disclosing the place of its retreat. The
plant is killed. Trees affected by this insect may, how-
ever, be known by the little heaps of sawdust-looking
excrement collected at their roots, ejected through an
aperture made on purpose by the insect.

Cerambyx, sp. The Cedrela toona and Dalbergia sissoo
trees are both affected by a larger species of Cerambyx
than is found on sal. Also, a minute species attacks the
living bark of Acacia catechu. They get underneath the
bark, and eat away the newly -formed wood. Their
presence within the tree is detected by the exudation of
a gummy substance. — R. Thompson.

Cerambyx, sp. The larva of another species attacks the
Rottlera tinctoria. This is over four lines long, and as
thick as the thumb.

The grubs of a species inhabit the mango and pine trees.

Cerastes. A genus of horned serpents, allied to the

42 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

vipers. The principal species are the Cerastes ^Egyptiacus
and Cerastes Persicus. — M. T. — See Snakes.

Ceriosterna gladiator, a longicorn beetle, which eats
away the bark and destroys the leading shoot of the
casuavina tree. Valuable casuarina plantations have
been successfully formed along the shore of the Coromandel
coast, but they have a nocturnal enemy in this Ceriosterna
gladiator.

Chelifer, sp., tailless scorpions, are not injurious though
so supposed. They live on mites and wood-lice, eating up
these insect pests of books. There are several species
widely distributed. — See Anobium.

Chrysomelidae larvae attack the cotton plant.

Cicadella, sp., attack the cotton plant.

Cicadidse. A family of the order Ehynchota and sub-
order Homoptera. Tacua speciosa is a black species of the
Eastern Archipelago. In the China tea-boxes is another
black species with yellow spots (Greana maculata), and a
smaller black species with blood-red abdomen (Huechys
sanguinea). The Cicadidse live upon trees and shrubs,
sucking out the juices of the young tender shoots and roots.

Cicendela Chinensis. A richly-coloured species of the
tiger-beetles, is abundant in the rice fields of China and
Japan. C. octoguttata of Assam is an inch in length.

Cicer arietinum, Linn., suffers greatly from frost, if
caught by it in flower, and whole fields of healthy plants
are sometimes ruined by a cold night in January or
February. Great injury also often results from the
ravages of the ' bahadura ' caterpillar. It awaits identifica-
tion.— D. & F. — Vem. Ghana.

Cimicidse, or bugs, belong to the order Hemiptera and
to the family Geocores. Helopeltis Antonii is a name of
the tea-bug. — M. T. — See Bug; Tea-bug.

THK AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 43

Clothes Moths. — See Tineidse.

Coccidae. A family of Homopterous insects known as
scale-insects. — See Coccus.

Coccinella are known as the lady-bird or lady-cow.
In the larval and mature stages they are said to feed
exclusively on the injurious parasites on plants of the
aphides or plant-lice ; but, in Bengal, a twelve-spotted
species undoubtedly feeds on the leaves and flower-buds
of nearly all the Cucurbitaceee. — J. Scott. — See Coleoptera.

Coccus adonidum, in the hot-houses of Europe, often
commits great injury. — See Lecanium ; Pseudococcus.

Cockroach. This name is given to the Periplaneta
orientalis, and the American P. americana. Also to species
of the genera Blatta, Blabera. Panchlora, Phoraspis.
They destroy the young shoots and flower stem of orchids.
They soil and injure books and clothes, and are peculiarly
troublesome in ships. They shun the light.

Cocoa-nut palm. Cocoa-nut trees have great enemies
in the shape of two beetles. One of these is a large
Curculio (Ehynchophorus, Sack.), called the red beetle,
nearly as big as the stag-beetle of Britain ; the other is
the Oryctes rhinoceros, so called from its projecting horn.
The red beetle is so called from the red mark on the
upper part of its breast. Its attacks are said to be on
the nut, but those of the rhinoceros beetle are on the
terminal bud of the palm stem. When so injured, the
bud dies, and, the crown of the leaves falling off, leaves
the cocoa-nut tree a mere bare stem. The same result
occurs to other palms, as the palmyra, the betel, etc.,
in which the top bud, or cabbage as it is called, is
destroyed.

Coffee trees have been injured by many insects and
plants. Mr. K. C. Haldane, in 1 8 8 1 , in his book, 'All about

44 THE AGKICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Grubs,' gave the Singhalese vernacular names and figures
of several pests, and of these Mr. Ch. 0. Waterhouse has
identified the Aneocerus coffese, Anomola elata, Camari-
mena variabile, Cliuteria chloronata, Lachnosterna pinguis,
Leucopholis pinguis, and Mimela xanthorrhina.

Mr. Nietner, in 1860, gave the following list of the
enemies of the coffee trees in Ceylon, viz. —

Colcoptera.

Pseudococcus adonidum, white or mealy bug.
Lecanium coffese, Walk. List. lux. B. M., brown or scaly bug.
L. nigrum, N., black bug.
Syncladium Nietneri, llal>h. Dresd. Hediviy, 1858 ; Trisposporium

Gardneri, Berk. J. Hort. Soc. Lond., 1849.
Aphis coffese, JV., coffee louse.
Strachia geometrica, Match, in lit*.

Lepidoptcra.

Aloa lactinea, Cram., pop. ex.
Orgyia Ceylamca, N.
Euproctis virguncula, Walk.
Trichia exigua, Feld. in. lit.
Narosa conspersa, Walk.
Limacodes graciosa, We*lw., Ent. cat.
Drepana ?
Zeuzera coffese, ^V.

Agrotis segetum, Wien. V., black grub.
Galleriomorpha lichenoides, Feld. in lit.
Boarmia Ceylanica, Feld. in lit.
B. leucostigmaria, Feld. in lit.
Eupithecia coffearia, Feld. in lit.
Tortrix coffearia, Feld. in lit.
Gracillaria '? coffeifoliella, Motcli.

Diptera.
Anthomyza? coffeae, N. in Motch.

Orthoptera.

Phymatea punctata, T).
Ancylouicha, sp. ? white grub.
Arhines? destructor, N.

Aptera.
Acarus coffese, N.

Mammalia.
Golunda Ellioti, Gray in Kel. Prod., coffee rat.

THE AGEICULTUKAL PESTS OF IXDIA. 45

A most destructive fungus, the Hemileia vastatrix,
appeared in 1871, and completed the ruin of the Ceylon
coffee industry, reducing the yield one- half.

Coffee-borer is a name applied to several beetles, espe-
cially to a small longicorn (Xylotrechus quadripes),
which causes terrible damage to young trees ; the larva)
boring into all parts of the trees. — See Borer.

Cold Season. Insects affecting the cold season crops
are species of Aphis, Cassida, Coccinella, Haltica, Locusta,
and Thyca eucharis. — E. T.

Coleoptera is the order of insects commonly known as
beetles. Some 90,000 species have already been de-
scribed, and some thousands of new ones are annually
being discovered. The principal families are : —

The Cicendelidse and Carabidse (tiger beetles and
ground beetles). Nearly all of these are beneficial, and
are carnivorous. Dyticidae, water-beetles, also carnivorous.
Staphylinidse, mostly carnivorous. Silphidse, the burying
beetles. The species of Necrophorus and Silpha are use-
ful ; they feed on carrion, and by scratching the ground
from under dead animals, they partially bury them
(whence their name).

Dermestidse. The species of this family feed chiefly
on dry animal matter. The larva? of Dermestes are
about half an inch long, clothed with long erect hair,
most of them being brown in colour. They do much
mischief to skins.

Dermestes vulpinus is found in most parts of the
world. Dermestes lardarius is the bacon-beetle. The
larvse of anthrenus are similar to those of dermestes, but
much smaller, and have tufts of stiff hair at their tails,
which they erect when alarmed.

Anthrenus museorum does much mischief in museums.

46 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Anthrenus vorax did much damage to the stores of
soldiers' coats in India.

Scarabseidse. Nearly all the species live in dung,
including the sacred-beetle (Scarabseus sacer). Some
species of this family in India are of great size (Helio-
copris midas), measuring more than two inches in length.
The MelolonthidsB (cockchafers) and the Eutelidae, both
feed on living vegetable matter, chiefly on roots of
grasses, shrubs, and trees, often doing much mischief.
Leucopholis pinguis, Lachnosterna pinguis, Mimela xan-
thorrhina, Anomala elata cause much damage to coffee
trees. The Cetoniidre (the rose-beetles), very similar in
their habits to the Melolonthidse ; one species, Clinteria
chloronata, does much mischief to coffee trees, the grub
eating the roots, and the beetle the blossoms.

Buprestidse and Elateridse (click -beetles) ; the lame
feed on living wood, and are more or less injurious.

Tenebrionidae, a large family, few of which are injurious;
Tenebrio is the meal-worm beetle.

Cantharidre, the blister-beetles.

Curculionidse, the weevils, including Calandra and
Ehynchophorus, the palm weevils ; Sitophilus orizse and
granarius, the corn weevils. Bruchidse, very destructive
to seeds, especially beans.

Anthribidte. One species of this group (Aroeocerus
coffeoe) does much mischief to seeds of various kinds,
including coffee beans, and is met with nearly all over the
world.

Prionidse, Cerambycidse, and Lamiidae, the long-horned
beetles. The larvse of these beetles live on both living
and dead wood, and often do much mischief. Some of
the beetles themselves also injure the trees by gnawing
off the smaller twigs.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 47

Chrysomelidiie. The larvae of these insects are chiefly
injurious to the leaves of plants.

Coccinellidse. ' Lady-birds or cow-ladies.' These are
beneficial in the larval and perfect state, both feeding
voraciously on the Aphidse or blight. A species, how-
ever, in Bengal, with twelve spots, undoubtedly feeds on
the leaves and flower- buds of nearly all the Cucurbitacese.

The insects of Northern India most destructive to
living and dead vegetable substances belong to five
families of Coleoptera, to two families of the Hemiptera or
bugs, to one of the Neuroptera or lace wings, and to
three of the Hymenoptera.

The forest trees of Northern India suffer largely from
the genera Bostrichus, Bruchus, Buprestis, Calandra,
Cerambyx, Curculio, Euchirus, Hylesinus, Lamia, Leptura,
Lucanus, Monocharnus, Prionus, Rhyncoenus, Saperda,
Scolytus, Tomicus. These belong to five families, viz.
Lamellicornes, Longicornes, Rhynchophora, Serricornes,
and Xylophagi.

The larvse of the family Buprestidee, species of the
Lucanus, stag-beetles ; species of Euchirus ; species of
the wood boring Xylophagi, Bostrichus, Tomicus, and
Hylesinus, are all of them very destructive. The
Buprestidse are peculiarly forest insects, attacking the
timber of coniferous trees of Northern India. The
Lucanidre, stag-beetles, are pre-eminently wood feeders.
They live in their larva stage in the interior of the
trunks of large trees. A very large proportion of the
species of Coleoptera do not come forth of their hiding-
places until dusk, and a large number even pass their
whole lives in concealment.

Coreidse. — See Cicadidse.

Corn-weevil. — See Coleoptera ; Curculionidse.

48 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Cotton. — See Gossypium.

Crickets, house, field, and mole, belong to the order
Orthoptera, and family Gryllidrc. — See Cylindrodes ; Gryl-
lidiB ; Schizodactylus.

Crocodiles are numerous in the rivers of Africa and
Southern and Eastern Asia, and are of two families,
Crocodilidre and Gavialida3 ; another family, the Alliga-
toridse, are reptiles of America. Crocodiles evince great
cunning, and carry off many people, both young and old,
and devour innumerable fish. Man does not escape ; and
people in boats, as also goats, dogs, and ponies venturing
near the river-sides, are seized by their great jaws, or are
swept into the water by their tail. There has not been
adopted any systematic mode of destroying them, yet it
would not be difficult to discover their nests and destroy
their eggs. Their nests rise two feet out of the water, and
the Eev. Bancroft Boake mentions that Mr. Symonds
in Ceylon found 150 eggs in one nest. A net of strong
rope with a hook is used to catch them.

Crotalaria juncea, Linn., the san hemp, is sometimes
used to clean land, as the closeness of its growth stifles
all weeds which may attempt to compete with it. — D. &
F. — Tern. San.

Culex is a genus of the Culicidse, gnats and mosquitos,.
both of them painfully harassing to man and animals.
Mosquito, gnat, midge are popular names applied to
different insects of the family Culicidse. The females
only are greedy of blood ; if this fail them, they live like
the males on the juices of flowers. The females alone
pierce the skin, by means of an auger with teeth at the
end ; they suck the blood, and, before they fly away,,
distil a liquid venom into the wound. The bite seems
to have an anaesthetic effect, which does not cause it to

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 49

be felt till some time after. And if the mosquito be killed
before it lias injected the poison into the wound, there
is no subsequent pain or irritation.

Mosquitos, in the Tumiche creek in the Gunnison
Valley, Colorado, when the small young trout rise to the
surface to breathe, will alight on the trout's head and
kill it. (Sc. Gos., Nov. 1885.) The larvae of the dragon
Hies destroy young fish. In the damp parts of India,
mosquitos abound. At eventide they rise in myriads
from the Irawadi, and cling around the trees like clouds,
and the poorest Burman sleeps under a mosquito curtain.
If the itching sensation which their bites occasion be
yielded to and the part be scratched, numerous and
sometimes large leg sores are formed. The Edinburgh
Eevicw for October 1886 mentions that 'rich and
fertile portions of the Southern United States are in-
capable of cultivation from the hosts of mosquitos
that abound in them. The same insect effectually
shuts out portions of British America from explora-
tion.' In India, the people, to scare away mos-
quitos, suspend a plant of the Aloe perfoliata ; the
Chinese burn wormwood rolled up in the form of
pastilles with some fragrant resin. Pennyroyal plants
suspended in a room are said to be equally effective
against fleas, flies, and mosquitos. — Van Beneden, 116.

Curculionidse are weevils. They attack, principally
in their larva stage, every part of vegetable tissues, and
all sorts of plant life. These larvae are very destructive
alike to forests and orchards, and to seeds and cereals
stored in granaries. A large number of the Curcu-
lionidte pass the early stages of their metamorphosis
in the pith of stems of trees and plants. — See Coleoptera

Cylindrodes Campbelli, a mole-cricket, one of the Gryl-

50 THE AG1U CULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

, inhabits Melville Island, on the north coast of
Australia ; is about 2 J inches long. It burrows into the
stems of plants, and causes them to wither. — See Cricket ;
Gryllida3.

Cynips. The gall-producing insects are numerous and
of great variety in the forests of the North - Western
Provinces. They puncture and lay their eggs in large
numbers in the fruits, seeds, and leaves of plants, and the
excrescences are known as galls. Cynips of the common
gall is the Cynips gallse tinctoria, Linn. Another species
is C. quercus folii, Linn., and a third is the C. quercus
tojoe, Fair. — R. T. — See Galls.

Deiopeia pulchella is widely distributed, and occurs in
India, Its caterpillars feed on the kernel of the seed of
the Phyrostigma venenosum, which contains the poison-
ous principle Casrenia, and its pupae have been found
entrapped in the centre of the hard bean. The excre-
ment of its larvae contains the principle of the bean
unaltered.

Delphax saccharivora, the cane spittle-fly of Grenada
and British Honduras, ravages the sugar-cane there. It
has not been observed in India.

Depressaria gossipiella attacks the cotton plant of
India. — See Cotton ; Gossypium.

Dermestes. — See Coleoptera,

Diatraea sacchari. In the Mauritius, sugar-cane is
injured by the Proceras sacchariphagus, which Mr. J. O.
Westwood has supposed may be identical with the
Diatraea sacchari, Guilding, and Phalsena saccharalis or

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 51

Chilo saccharalis, Fcibricius. The borer of the Queensland
cane has been supposed to be the larva of this Diatrsea
sacchari. It enters the cane on its appearing above
ground, and eats up the heart. It is supposed to be
identical with the borer of the Mauritius, Proceras
sacchariphagus. Diatrsea sacchari is the Chilo saccharalis,
Fabricius. It occurs in the United States. The Mauri-
tius sugar-cane is one of the varieties now cultivated
in the North- Western Provinces of India, but it is not
known if the Diatrsea has accompanied it.

Distoma hepaticum (Fasciola hepatica), Linn., the
liver-fluke, is found in France, and is not uncommon in
Holland, Sweden, Norway, and even in Greenland. The
liver-fluke is from T8o to ^ of an inch in length. It
causes great loss of sheep and cattle. Fasciola trachealis
inhabits the windpipe of birds. — M. T. — See Amphistoma.

Dorcus titan, a large stag - beetle of Java, family
Lucanidae.

Doryphora. Potato beetle, the Doryphora decein-
liiieatum, does not occur in India. The common fire-fly
or lightning bug, Photinus pyralis, has been often
mistaken for it.

Drepanognathus saltator, Jerdon (or Harpegnathus salta-
tor, Jerdon), an ant of the Peninsula of India, of Malabar,
and Mysore, has the name saltator from its making sur-
prising jumps when alarmed or disturbed. It is very
pugnacious, and bites and stings very severely.

Dry-rot, a disease affecting timber, is produced by the
attacks of several fungi. It increases in rapidity accord-
ing to the amount of potassium and phosphoric acid
which is contained in the wood where it occurs. Wood
felled in the spring is rich in both these materials, and
dry-rot spores are easily cultivated in it; but winter-

52 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

felled trees contain much less both of the acid and the
potassium. Mne-tenths of the decay of timber is due to
rot occasioned by the common wood fungus. This para-
site develops under two conditions, namely, moisture and
heat, and both are present in new, green, or unseasoned
timber employed in buildings. In old or seasoned
timber, the former is wanting, and hence greater durability,
If moisture only be present without heat, the fungus will
not grow ; if heat without moisture, it equally has no
scope for development, and hence the protecting influence
of ventilation. — See Fungi.

Durkhi, an insect of Hindustan, very destructive to
the rice plant ; it awaits identification. An insect of
similar name is very destructive to the young indigo
plant.

E

Elateridse, or click - beetles, in their larva stage, are
known in Britain as wire-worm. Many of the species
attack all sorts of cultivated vegetable produce. In
Bengal they are destructive of wheat, barley, and millets,
injuring the plant, root and stalk. The Iarva3 of one
species penetrate the potato tubers and destroy their
inner parts. Wheat and barley crops, when freely mixed
with mustard plants, suffer less than other crops. Some
of the species live for two or three years in the larva
state, and do in this time great damage to crops of corn.
Larvae of a click-beetle have been found at the roots
of the Queensland sugar-cane, but no damage from them
has been detected. — J. Scott.

Eleusine coracana, Gcertner, suffers greatly from heavy
rain, and a good year for rice is a bad year for eleusiner

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 53

and vice versa. It is the most profitable of the minor
millets. » It can be preserved for sixty years in pits, and
greatly advantages in dearths. — Vern. Marwa. — D. & F.

Endioptis Indica attacks the cotton plant. — See
Gossypium.

Epeira, sp., a large red-and- black spider, about Monghir
on the Ganges, forms gigantic webs, stretching across the
paths, sufficiently strong to offer considerable opposition
to a traveller. The reticulated parts of the webs are of a
bright yellow colour, and about 5 feet in diameter, but
have a stretch of 10 to 20 feet, including the great guy
ropes, by which it is fastened to some neighbouring tree
or clump of bamboos. The spider sits in the centre wait-
ing for its prey. One of them when expanded measured
6 inches across the legs. Captain Sherwill found a
species of Nectarinia entangled in one of their webs.

Erythrina Indica, or dadap. A letter published in the
Weekly Ceylon Observer for 27th November 1884 stated
that the coffee - leaf disease, Hernileia vastatrix, was
caused by planting ' dadap ' trees between the coffee
plants for shade, and that wherever coffee is planted on-
forest land, or where no ' dadap ' trees are used for shade,
there is no sign of leaf disease. But there has not been
observed in Southern India any connection between the
presence of erythrina trees and the production of leaf
disease ; on the contrary, the effect of planting erythrina
has been distinctly beneficial, not hurtful, to the coffee
trees which it is planted to shade.

Eucheirus longimanus, a chafer that attacks the palms.
It is known in the Moluccas as the grand sagueir feeding
beetles, because they perish in thousands during the
night, by dropping into the palm wine collecting buckets.
It is one of the Lamellicorn Coleoptera.

54 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Eye-Fly, a minute winged insect which appears in
spring-time in myriads over all India, and clusters in
doors on any hanging strip of cloth or bit of thread.
They irritate the eyelids, and are popularly surmised to
cause ophthalmia. They are easily destroyed by burning
a cone-shaped paper. — See Pipsa.

Filaria, a genus of the Helmintha, q.v. The species are
all baneful. Filaria medinensis or guinea-worm is the
dracunculus. Having gained an entrance into the human
body, it takes from two months to a year or more to
become developed. It can be withdrawn in a few
minutes from the more exposed parts of the body, by
cutting down on it and inserting a probe beneath. If it
be broken, inflammation and suppuration follow, of a
severe form. Filaria sanguinis hominis — Dr. T. I*.
Lewis, M.B., Assistant Surgeon, Her Majesty's British
Forces, attached to the Sanitary Commission with the
Government of India, discovered this hsematozoon as-
inhabiting human blood of Europeans in India. (Report
1871, Sanitary Commission.} Filarise abound in the
soft parts of many birds. Dr. Spencer Cobbold, an able
writer on Entozoa, found the Filaria attenuata worm in
a kite. — See Guinea-worm ; Helmintha.

Fish. Sharks, although best known to landsmen as
giving cause for sorrow by their destruction of human
life, are not the only dangerous inhabitants of tropical
seas. Some fish are injurious when taken as food, and
produce symptoms resembling those of poisoning. The
deleterious effects which are produced by the tunny,

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 55

Thynmis vulgaris, Ouv., after its flesh has begun to change,
is well known. In Europe the barbel is very injurious at
the period of reproduction. The most dangerous species
belong to the genera Meletta, Sphyrrcna, Caranx, Scar us,
and Diodon. Most of the so-termed poisonous fishes are
only so at times ; that is to say, when they have fed
upon certain animals, at the period of reproduction, or
under certain other peculiar circumstances. Such are
the file fish, the conger eel, the mackerel, and the
herring.

The natives of India attribute poisonous qualities to
the Batrachus grunniens, rejecting them even as manure.

Meletta venenosa. During Mr. Lewis' residence at
Bencoolen in 1822, great numbers of what were supposed
to be Clupeonia perforata presented the unusual appear-
ance of having red eyes. Many natives, after having
eaten these fishes, were suddenly attacked with violent
vomiting, which, in cases where remedies were not
immediately applied, was known within an hour to
terminate fatally. At the same time, such of these fishes
with the ordinary silvery eyes were as formerly eaten
with impunity.

This phenomenon recurred at Bencoolen during the
seasons of 1823 and 1825, but not of 1824. It was
surmised that the poisonous fishes had fed on a gelatinous
substance which at that season exudes from the beauti-
fully coloured coral reefs on that part of the coast of
Sumatra. It is, however, more probable that the
poisonous fishes were shoals of Meletta venenosa, an
inhabitant of the Seychelles and the neighbouring seas,
which happened in those seasons to visit Sumatra. M.
Valenciennes describes this fish as being poisonous, and
producing effects as noted above. (Dr. Cantor, p. 295.)

56 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Colonel Play fair (Fishes of Zanzibar, 1866) denies these
fish being poisonous.

In the Straits of Malacca, Clupeonia perforata has
never been known to produce bad effects.

Species of the genus Ostracion are at times deleterious,
and always so are the Meletta venenosa, and M. thryssa,
Vol., the Caranx fallax, Cuv., the Scar us capitaneus, Guv.,
and the Diodon tigrinus, Cuv. The Balistes are very
indigestible, even poisonous, after they feed on certain
zoophytes.

Some carps in the Himalayas, as Oreinus, are very un-
wholesome, or cause poisonous symptoms until accustomed
to them. With strangers they set up intense colic pains,
and often diarrhoea and vomiting. The Semiplotus of
the Assam rivers gives rise to these symptoms with most
strangers.

Dr. A. Collas, of the French Navy, writing from
Pondicherry in 1861, mentioned that dangerous symptoms
were produced in that community by using the calou-
oulouve, which he identified as the Gobius criniger, Cuv.
et Vol. This fish is apt to affect all strangers. The
people had always to remove carefully the head and
intestines, and wash with repeated waters ; fowls died
and dogs vomited and died on eating the heads and
viscera.

Some Mauritius fish are said to be unhealthy when the
coral is in bloom.

Mr. Forbes mentions, in his Eastern Archipelago, that
a species of Scarus of the lagoons of the Cocos Keeling
island requires to be prepared for the table with very great
care ; for should the gall-bladder be ruptured, and its
contents escape into the body-cavity, the flesh of the fish
becomes quite poisoned. Several fatal cases had occurred

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 57

in the settlement, especially among children, who, almost
immediately after partaking of the flesh, were seized with
.giddiness and stupor, followed by death.

The siluroids Plotosus anguillaris and P. albilabris
•occur in the seas of the Malay Peninsula. At Penang,
the latter species is less numerous than the former ; both
are eaten by the poorer class of natives. The wounds
from both are equally dreaded. The siluroids or sheat
fishes are generally well armed. They have mostly strong
dorsal and pectoral spines, often serrated, with which
they can inflict dangerous lacerated wounds. The siluroid
Thalassophryne has a distinct poison gland. In the marine
and estuary species the spinal armature is invariably pre-
sent, and the serrated spines on the tails of the skates
cause lacerated wounds ; while the Synanceia verrucosa
has a tube at each of its dorsal spines, and a poison
gland at its base. The wounds are very venomous. It
is, however, rare along the coasts of India.

The spine in the tail of the Trygon uarnak inflicts a
lacerated wound, and Dr. Day had to amputate the arm
of a person wounded by this fish. He thinks that there
may be some noxious secretion likewise occasioning
irritation, as seen from the scorpion fish Saccobranchus
fossilis and the Clarias magur. Indian natives believe
that the Saccobranchus fossilis and Clarias give poisonous
wounds, but no glands have as yet been detected in them.
Yet should a native be wounded in the hand, most acute
inflammation at once sets in. In one instance the arm
up to the shoulder, in a few hours, enlarged to double its
normal size, accompanied by intense agony.

Punctured wounds, in which no direct poison has been
traced, are especially dreaded from species of Pterois and
their allies. The spines about the head of Platycephalus,

58 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

and the spine at the side of the tail in the lancet fish
Acanthurus, give more a flesh than a punctured wound.
With wounds from simple spines, the symptoms seem to-
be mostly due to the state of health of the recipient-
Species of Polyacanthus inflict punctured wounds with
the spinous rays of their dorsal fins.

Species of Tetrodon have the power of inflating the
abdomen, and in this state, when taken or handled, they
emit a grating sound. They are also remarkable for
tenacity of life, which they are capable of sustaining for
several hours after having been taken out of their
element. They have a peculiar, disagreeable, odour,
resembling that of the Gobioidiie, which continues for
several years in specimens preserved in spirits of wine.
Some species of Tetrodon are undoubtedly poisonous, and
one species is used in Japan for committing suicide. In
the Malayan countries they are considered poisonous, and
are even objected to as manure.

Teuthis, Linn. All the species of this genus are
edible, though supposed by the Malays of the Straits to
be highly poisonous. They are not eaten by them, but
set aside among offal of fish to be used as manure. —
Cuvier and Valenciennes; F. D.; M. T.

Flea.— See Pulex.

Flies. — May - flies are species of the Ephemeridse.
Dragon-flies belong to the Libellulidse. The larvae of
certain flies often torment the human species.

The flesh-fly is the Sarcophaga carnaria, Meig., Musca
carnaria, Linn. Its body is of a golden-yellow anteriorly,
and covered with long, stout, black hairs. The blue-fly
or meat-fly is the Calliphora vomitoria, Rob. Desv., Musca
vomitoria, Linn., M. chrysocephala, De Geer; it makes a
loud buzzing noise. The golden-fly is the Lucilia Csesar,

T1IK AGKICULTUKAL PESTS OF INDIA. 5

Rob. Desv., Musca Caesar, Linn. The hominivorous fly, L.
homtnivora, inhabits Cayenne. The larvae of the Musca
meteorica, Fair., is sometimes developed in the stomach
of man. The blue-?" ottle and some other flies give birth
to larvie already hatched: the blue-bottle to 200,000,
which in 24 hours will increase two hundred times in
weight, and eat up refuse animal matters. Linnaeus said
that three individuals of M. vomitorit. will devour a dead
horse as quickly as a lion could do it. — M. T. ; Phipson.
— See Muscidae.

Fluke. — See Distoma.

Flying Fox is the name given by Europeans in India
to frugivorous bats of the family Pteropodidae, genera
Pteropus and Cynopterus. They roost during the day
on trees, generally in large colonies, to the number of
many hundreds, often, occupying a single tree. Towards
sunset they fly off, sometimes to great distances, to trees
that are in fruit, for the garden fruits, and those of the
nim, ber, and fig trees, returning at early dawn from their
1 Hinting - grounds to their roosting tree, where they
wrangle to get the best places, striking with their wing
claw, screaming and cackling, and circling round the tree
till they can hook on. They hang with their heads
down. The Galeopithecus volaus, or flying lemur, and
the flying squirrels, species of Pteromys, are similarly
raiders on fruit gardens. — J.

Frog. — See Eeptile.

Fungi of various genera are cause of detriment to
valuable vegetable products, and animals even do not
escape. Among the more hurtful in India are species
of Capundium, Chaetomium, Clasterisporum, Diplodia,
Dothidea, Eurotium, Glenospora, Hemileia vastatrix,
Hendersonia, Hydnum, Isaria, Lentinus, Pellicularia,

60 THE AGRICULTUKAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Pestalozzia, Puccinia, Eussula, Septoria, Uromyces, and
Ustilago.

Some fungi are important as food, while others are
poisonous, or are destructive to the plants upon which
they grow, and the same alga often serves as host for
several different fungi. Among the poisonous are
Agaricus muscarius, Eussula emetica, and Boletus lurdius.
Boleti prefer woods as habitat.

Messrs. Cooke and Berkeley thus summarize the dele-
terious influence of fungi : —

On man, when eaten inadvertently ; poisonous also by
the destruction of his legitimate food, and in producing
and aggravating skin diseases.

On animals, by deteriorating or diminishing their food
supplies, and by establishing themselves as parasites on
some species.

On plants, by hastening the decay of timber, also
•establishing themselves as parasites, and impregnating the
soil.

Fungi exert an important influence on the skin
diseases of man. Favus or scald - head, called also
porrigo, has its primary seat in the hair follicles ; Plica
polonica occurs everywhere ; Tinea tonsurans, Alopecia,
Sycosia, and Chionyphe are known, and hospital gangrene
suspected.

Chionyphe Carteri, Berkeley, Mycetoma, sp.9 H. Vandyke
Carter, is the fungus whose ravages cause the deeply-
seated disease known as the Madura foot.

In domestic animals, as in cattle disease and in
insects, as with species of Torrubia.

Dry-rot fungi are Merulius lacrymans, Polyporus
hybridus.

Ergot is the sclerotioid condition of a species of the

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. Gl

Claviceps fungus which occurs on rye, on wheat, and on
many of the wild grasses. It is employed medicinally.

In certain seasons ergot is much more common than
in others, and farmers and graziers believe that in such
seasons it is not uncommon for cattle to slip their young
through feeding on ergotized grasses.

Mylitta, an underground fungus of the Neilgherry
Hills, is closely allied to, if really distinct from, the
so-called native bread of Tasmania. The natives of India
call it the ' little man's bread,' in allusion to a tradition
that the Neilgherries were once peopled by a race of
pigmies. The small hard Mylitta, M. lapidescens, Horn,
of China, is used there medicinally.

Peridermium Thomsoni, Berkeley, fungus attacks the
Abies Smithiana on the Himalayas at elevation of 8000
feet. The leaves become reduced in length one -half,
curved, and sprinkled, sometimes in double rows, with
the large sort of this species, which at length prove fatal.

Polyporus anthelminticus, Berkeley, grows at the root
of old bamboos, and is employed in Burma as an anthel-
rnintic. P. fomentarius, Fr., is the amadou or German
tinder.

Puccinia graminis, the 'corn mildew,' is dimorphous,
having a one-celled fruit (Trichobasis), as well as a two-
celled fruit (Puccinia). The corn mildew and its accom-
panying ' rust ' occur wherever corn is cultivated, whether
in Australia or on the slopes of the Himalaya. The
same may be said of ' smut,' for Ustilago is as common
in Asia and America as in Europe. Dr. Cooke has seen
it on numerous grasses, as well as on barley from the
Panjab ; also a species different from Ustilago maydis
on the male florets of maize, from the same locality ; and
in 1870, one form of Ustilago made its appearance on.

62 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

rice, and is said to have affected a considerable portion
of the standing rice crop in the vicinity of Diamond
Harbour. It was described as constituting, in some of
the infested grains, a whitish, gummy, interlaced, thread-
like mycelium, growing at the expense of the tissues of
the affected organs, and at la t becoming converted into
a more or less coherent mass of spores, of a dirty green
colour, on the exterior of the d formed grains. Beneath
the outer coating the aggregated spores are of a bright
orange-red ; the central portion has a vesicular appear-
ance, and is white in colour. 'Bunt' is another pest
(Tilletia caries), which occupies the whole farinaceous
portion of the grains of wheat.

Sorghum and the small millets are liable to attacks
from allied parasites.

Sclerotium stipitatum, Curr., occurs in nests of the
white arit ; the people suppose it to possess medicinal
virtues.

Stilbum and Isaria, genera of fungi, occur in Ceylon.

Torrubia, a parasite genus of the fungi, of which
twenty - five species are known ; one seen in New
Guinea on a species of coccus. Dr. Hooker found two in
the Khasia Mountains. One American species occurs at
Darjeling, and two in China. They kill their insect hosts.
Torrubia sinensi^, Tul., of China, is developed on dead
caterpillars ; it is valued there medicinally. T. Taylori
grows from the caterpillar of a large moth of Australia ;
and in New Zealand T. Eobertsii attacks the larva of
Hepialus virescens.

Botrytis Bassiana is a fungus which attacks and
destroys the living insect. — Dr. Cooke and the Rev. Mr.
Berkeley; Dr. Cooke in the Economic Records of the India
Office.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 63

G

Gaeana maculata, one of the family Cicadidre, is black
with yellow spots.

Galeodes araneoides, one of the Solpugidse, a family of
the class Arachnida, is a great spider of the Central Asia
steppes. They move abroad at night ; seize and eat all
weaker creatures, birds, bats, musk rats. G. fatalis has
been known to kill a sparrow. There are thirty to thirty-
five species, and they attack and eat their own species.
Camels and sheep are said to die from their attacks.

Gamasus telarius (or Acarus telarius) is the scarlet
mite or red spider. It pierces and imbibes the juices of
the poppy leaves, and envelopes them in a delicate but
closely-woven web, which so checks transpiration, that
ultimately the plant becomes dry and withered. It
avoides the poppy in its milk-sap stage. It is most
abundant in hot, dry seasons. — J. Scott.

Ghoon is a Hindi generic name for the wood-boring
Xylophagi. Nothing comes amiss to them, — bamboos,
cereal grains, dried drugs, cheroots, pasteboard, books,
timber, and even furniture made up of the light woods,
although painted and in daily use, will be attacked and
eaten by them ; but it is the spongy and soft woods and
the white or sap-wood that they attack. Natives of
India destroy the ghoon by immersing the affected
articles in water for some weeks. — E. T.

Girwi. A blight or rust of Hindustan causing the grain
crops to assume a brick-dust colour. It awaits identifica-
tion.

Glossina morsitans, Westw., the tse-tse or spear-fly, is
called Zebud in the Chaldean version of the Bible, Zimb

64 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

in the Arabian version, and Tsaltsalya in the Ethiopian ;
the Greeks give it the name of Cynomya, and the negroes
of Tse-tse. It is mentioned in Isa. vii. 18. This insect is
one of the Muscidse-. It usually frequents the bushes and
reeds on the borders of marshes. It is larger than it
common fly, and of a whitish-yellow colour. The horse,
the ox, and the dog, after they have been attacked by
this insect, waste away and die in the course of a few
days ; those" which are fat and in good condition soon die,
while the others drag on a miserable existence for some
weeks. Three or four flies are sufficient to produce these
disastrous results. The blood of the animals which die
is altered and diminished in quantity. — M. T.

Golunda Ellioti, the coffee rat. — See Coffee; Mammalia.

Gronda, of Hindustan, is very destructive to growing
pulse. It needs to be determined.

Gossypium herbaceum. The cotton plant is attacked by
species of Aphis, Arctia Horsfieldii, Cicadella (Typhlocyba),
the larvae of one of the Chrysomelidae, Depressaria gossy-
piella, Saunders, Endioptis Indica, etc. From the lame of
the Depressaria, the United States Agricultural Commis-
sioner states that one-fourth of the cotton crop of India is
sometimes lost. Now, allowing annually one pound weight
of raw cotton to each of its 250,000,000, this at 3
annas the pound represents a value of in round numbers
Es. 4,50,00,000. Add to this the exported 4,189,718
cwt. in 1885-86, value Es. 10,77,72,041, the cotton
grown in India may be 6,421,950 cwt., value about
sixteen crore. The cotton worm of the United States is
the Aleta argillacea, Buclmcr, the Nbctua x}dona, Say.
Their cotton bug or cotton stainer is the Dydercus
suturellus, Schif.

The year 1877 in the United States was an unusual

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 65

harvest, nevertheless the loss in the cotton crop was
estimated by their Board of Agriculture at 15,000,000
dollars.

In the North- Western Provinces caterpillars are often
very destructive of growing cotton, sometimes stripping a
field entirely of its leaves ; and an immense deal of loss
results from the ravages of a smal white grub called
' sundi,' which lives within the pod. Stagnant water,
especially at the commencement of its growth, is most
harmful. Kain, when the pods begin to open, is also very
damaging, as the fibre becomes discoloured and rotten.
Early frosts may altogether terminate the picking season
a month or six weeks before it would otherwise have
ended, and hence the desire to get the cotton seed into
the ground as soon as possible.

Cotton plants in Southern India were described by
Dr. Shortt as subject to the attacks of a kind of mildew,
but it was found to be a diseased condition formerly
classed with fungi, under the name of Erineum. A
species of Tor u la attacks cotton pods after they are ripe. —
& & p.— Vcrn. Kapas ; C. & B.

Gracillaria coffeifolliella. Its larva mines the coffee
leaves. It is very common.

Grain-weevil. — See Coleoptera; Curculionidae; Calandra.
— Ch. 0. W.

Gryllidae, an insect family of the order Orthoptera,
having among its species the house, field, and mole
crickets. The Acheta, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, Heliothis
armigera, and Schizodactylus monstrosus are the more
destructive. One species of Gryllus, of Northern India,
called by the poppy cultivators ' phanga ' or ' phunge/ is
a voracious feeder when full grown, cropping the leaves
and stalks of the poppy and other young plants, infesting

E

66 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

the crops over large areas. They multiply and increase
rapidly. A species of Lower Bengal, the ' gudhia,' attacks
the young poppy plant in November and December.

Some species of Gryllus attack the young poppy plant
in all its stages ; others follow the seed into granaries, and
the Gryllotalpa vulgaris, with species of Acheta, Heliothis
armigera, and Tetranychus papaverse, take part in the
work of destruction. Acheta campestris, A. domestica,
and another species or variety in Bengal appear xfrom
the close of November to the middle of January. They
rarely attack the poppy plant in its germinating stage,
confining their attacks to the later stages of develop-
ment of its root-leaf system. They are the 'jhengur' of
Hindustan. A species of Acheta frequently commits sad
havoc on the young poppy crops, extending in dry seasons
from November to January, emerging during the night
from their hiding-place in the soil. The insectivorous
birds are great helps in their suppression, and dusting the
plants with powdered charcoal and lime, or ashes and
lime, is useful. — J. Scott. — See Cylindrodes ; Heliothis.

Gryllotalpa vulgaris is often a serious pest to the
poppy, cutting over with its powerful mandibles con-
siderably advanced plants. It makes very extensive and
variously directed underground channels. The easiest
mode of destroying them is to flood their haunt, and catch
the insects as they emerge. It is a destructive creature
of nocturnal habits. It seems to be known in Bengal as
the goorgooria, or oo-chingra. — J. Scott.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 67

Hsemopsis. Horse leech is a name applied to Hsem-
opsis sauguisuga, and to a species of Aulostomum. The
latter is voracious ; they feed on all creatures. Hsemopsis
sanguisuga, Moq., is met with in Sweden, in the south of
Spain, in Portugal, and in Turkey. It is very common
in the north of Africa, and is one of the main causes of
disease in the animals of Algeria. It has feeble jaws,
and can only penetrate mucous membranes. Hence the
necessity for it to introduce itself into the natural cavities
of oxen, horses, and other herbivora, camels, mules ; and
into the mouth, pharynx, nasal fossae, and trachea of man
when drinking water. There are three principal varieties
of leeches employed medicinally in France. These are —
1st, the grey leech; 2nd, the green leech; 3rd, the
dragon leech. The leeches in the damp climate of Assam
cause much injury to travellers. They are small, and
adhere to the legs in numbers, causing loss of blood and
ulcers.

Land leeches of Ceylon are about an inch in length,
and as fine as a knitting needle, but capable of distention
to the size of a quill. A closely-woven cloth is needed
to prevent their attack. The wound which they inflict
is on the more tender and less exposed parts of the body,
and on the fetlocks of horses; and the hill leech of the
Sikkim streams is no less inimical.

Haltica has a species in Bengal very similar to the
turnip-fly or turnip flea-beetle of Europe, H. nemorum.
It feeds on the young leaves and flower-buds of the
mustard.

68 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Heliocopis cupido larva? attack the cotton plant in its
bud. The larvae are dispersed by sprinkling ashes over
the plant.

Heliothis armigera, one of the Gryllidse, is very gener-
ally diffused through Upper Bengal, the North-Western
Provinces, and the Panjab. It attacks the leaves and cap-
sules of the poppy and all the various pulses, especially the
mussoors (Ervum lens),chana (Cicer arietinum), and mutur
(Pisum sativum), less frequently urhur (Cajanus Indicus),
boring into poppy capsules, and feeding on the seeds.
With the poppy, the caterpillars feed from the lower leaves
up to the capsule, which they penetrate, and there pass
into the pupa and perfect form, the male moth being"
of a pale orange colour, one female colouring being of a
darker and another of a paler hue. But the imprisoned
moth rarely makes its escape from the capsule ; indeed,
scarcely one in ten gets out ; and they have vigilant
foes in the mynas, which, perching on the bored capsules,
watch the operations of the caterpillar, and should it
appear at the aperture, the myna immediately strikes,
and rarely fails in withdrawing it in whole or in part.
Mr. John Scott asserts that neither this caterpillar nor
any other with which he made experiments will attack
the parts of the opium poppy when in any way replete
with a normally concentrated milk - sap. Heliothis
armigera suddenly in the season of 1877—78 attacked
the poppy crops in the Patna and Shahabad districts.
Careful hand - picking of the affected capsules was
the only remedy suggested. It has, at different times,
proved most destructive to cotton crops, eating into
the capsules. The opium poppy is not supposed to
be its natural food. One species occurs in Kashmir.
— J. Scott.

THE AGRICULTURAL Pf:STS OF INDIA.

Helminths living in man are of three orders :

09

1. NEMATODA.

2. TREMATODA.

3. CESTODA.

Ancylostomum duode-

Distoma Buskii.

Botliriocephalus latus.

nale.

D. hepaticum.

Tteniacommunis; larva,

Ascaris lumbricoides.

D. heterophya.

Cysticercus cellulosa.

Ascar. alata.

D. lanceolatum.

T. nana.

Filaria lentis, lymph-
atica, Medinensis,

D. ophthalmobiimi.
Festucaria lentis.

T. flavopunctata.
T. echinococcus ; larva,

oculi.

Thecosorna sangui-

Echinococcus veteri-

Spiroptera hominis.

cola.

norum.

Strongylus longivagi-

T. inermis.

natus.

T. acanthotrias ; larva,

Strong, renalis.

Cyst, acanthotrocus.

Trichina spiralis.

T. dentalis ; larva,

Tricocephalus dispar.

Echin. hominis.

T. tenuicollis ; larva,

Cyst, tenuicollis.

Those living in the alimentary canal are the Ancylos-
tomum, Ascaris, Botliriocephalus, Oxyurus, Tsenia, and
Tricocephalus. Out of the alimentary canal are found the
Distoma, Festucaria, Filaria, Spiroptera, Strongylus, and
Thecosoma. Cysticerci are helmintha larvse which are
furnished with a caudal vesicle. There are three prin-
cipal species. Cysticercus bovis is the measle of the ox ;
it is the larva of the cestoid worm Tienia mediocanallata,
a common form of tape-worm. It is in small segments,
and each ripe segment of the tape- worm contains ahout
40,000 eggs. Trenia solium is the tape- worm derived from
the pig ; it is an entozoon often causing severe ill-health.
There is another which Dr. Cobbold supposes belongs
to the sheep. They attain their position in man by
his eating uncooked or ill-cooked food. Flesh food pro-
perly cooked may be eaten with safety. The prevalence
•of entozoa in military ration beef will be seen from the
following extract record from Peshawar : — ' .Read Military

70 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Department letter, 8th October 1869, forwarding state-
ment of cattle found infected during the month of
August 1869 : out of 840 slaughtered, 31 were found to
have cysts, 19 of these having presented at Peshawar.
Statement for September 1869 : out of 732 slaughtered,
15 were infected, 7 detected at Peshawar. Statement
for October 1869 : out of 390 slaughtered, 6 infected.'

Helopeltis Antonii, Wood-Mason. Tea-bug or mosquito
blight. • Other species are H. braconiformis and nigra,
Waigiou ; collaris, pellucida, from Philippines ; podagrica
and theivora of Assam. — See Tea-bug.

Hemileia vastatrix, an entophyte, causing the leaf
disease of the coffee planters of the south of India and
Ceylon. It is the fungus of the coffee-leaf disease.
Its spore (Uredo spore), germinating on the damp under-
surface of the coffee leaf, emits a short delicate tube
which sends a prolongation through a stoma, and the
further development of this results in the production of
the intercellular mycelium. The mycelium of Hemileia
not only robs the leaf of valuable materials, but it diverts
the flow of nutritive substances, and by occupying space
in the tissues of the plants, it prevents these tissues from
fulfilling functions of service to the coffee tree. It has
been one of the greatest scourges with which the coffee
enterprise of Southern India has had to contend. The
yield of fruit diminished. Prior to 1874, the average
yield for five years in Ceylon had been 4-5 cwt. per acre,
but in the five succeeding years the yield was only 2*9 cwt.

Hemiptera, or bugs, an order of insects ; among its
destroying genera are the Aphis and Coccus of the two
families Aphidse or plant-lice and gall insects. — See Bug.

Hippobosca equina, Linn., the horse-fly, is an insect
belonging to the order Diptera. and to the family Pupi-

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 71

para. This insect settles on horses and cattle, gener-
ally beneath the tail near the anus ; they select the
parts which are devoid of hair. It is known in the
New Forest of England as the forest fly. With its sucker
it punctures the skin of horses and cattle, and eagerly
sucks their blood. Man is not free from their attacks. —
See Fly.

Hoplosternus. A species of this genus is the common
chafer of Queensland. Its grub destroys the roots of the
sugar-cane, causing the leaves to become brown and dry
up ; the growth of the cane is arrested, and the first
high wind knocks it over. In this manner whole fields
of cane are killed. In the early stage, the larvae are
engaged in gnawing the root. In November and
December, the chafers, fully developed, appear above
ground in swarms ; inactive during the day, but feeding
eagerly at night. — L. E.

Hordeum vulgare, Linn. The most striking of the
diseases to which Indian barley is liable is that commonly
known as ' kandwa/ which is the result of the attack
of a fungus closely allied' to that which causes 'smut'
in English corn - fields. The first symptoms of the
disease is distortion of the ear and swelling out of the
stalk joints. Then a blackish dust makes its appear-
ance on the ear and at the stalk joints, which rapidly
spreads over them and entirely destroys the grain.
There are very few barley fields in which some of
these distorted, charred-looking heads cannot be detected,
and they are especially numerous in seasons of good
winter rain. — D. & F. — Vern. Jao.

Huechys sanguinea, one of the Cicadidse, a small black
species, with blood-red abdomen, said to be a powerful
vesicant.

72 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Hylesinus fraxini, Fair., is the ash bark beetle of
England. In India the Hylesini attack the bamboo and
the pine. Mr. Thompson has known, in Dehra Doon, a
species of Hylesinus attack and so entirely eat the poles
and rafters of houses made of the sal tree, as to cause the
roofs of the buildings to fall in ; and a similar occurrence
in a building in the hills, in which the ' Cheer ' pine,
Pinus longifolia, was used. — R. T.

Hymenoptera, an order in which naturalists arrange
several insects, some of them useful, others injurious to
man and his industries, as species of the genus Tenthredo,
family Scurifera; also the Cynips family; and the Xylocopa
wood borers of the family Mellifera or bees. Hymen-
optera comprise the gall insect, ichneumon flies, sand
wasps, mason wasps, mining wasps, stinging ants, common
ants, wasps, hornets, carpenter bees, honey bees, and
dammer bees, — almost all of them injurious. They
mostly have stings with which to protect themselves,
and the pain from the thrust of that of the wasp, the bee,
the hornet, or the ichneumon is considerable, death even
resulting from the attacks of a multitude of bees. Even
large birds like the myna carefully fly off to avoid the
hornet's attacks.

Icerya sacchari is the waxy sugar-cane louse, known
also as Le Pou a Poche* Blanche, of Queensland and
Mauritius. Mr. H. Ling Eoth supposes that it is milked
by a small black ant, Formica rufonigra, in the same
manner as species of the Aphides are by other ants. He
considers it to be the cause of injury to sugar-cane.

Indigofera tinctoria, Linn. The most dreaded source

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 73

of damage to the indigo plant is continued wet weather,
which renders the plants tall and woody, without much
foliage, and by a kind of etiolation prevents the proper
development of the dye property. A proper allowance
of sunlight is as necessary to the production of the dye
as water is to the growth of the plant. — D. & F. —
Tern. Nil.

Itch. — See Sarcoptes.

Ixodes, the ticks, a genus of Acarina, are parasitic on
most animals. I. ricinus is common on the dog, I. bo vis
on cattle and deer; I. brevipes occurs in Ceylon. Europe,
Africa, and America have other species, all of them
hurtful. The sheep tick, however, the Melophagus ovinus,
is an apterous fly of the family Hippoboscidae.

Jackal. — See Mammal.

Kadhya, or Gudhia in the language of Hindustan, is an
insect more or less troublesome to various products of
the fields and gardens of Northern India. It has a rough,
warty, or shagreened skin, of a dirty ash-grey colour. It
needs identification.

Lachnosterna. A genus of Lamellicorn Coleoptera of
the family Melolonthidae. The species are very numerous

74 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

in India, and do much mischief to trees. Lachnosterna
pinguis of Walker, ' the yellow-bellied cockchafer,' a
brown species, about an inch long, injures the coffee
trees in Dimbula, Ceylon, and in parts of India. — See-
Coffee Trees.

Lady-birds. — See Coleoptera ; Coccinellidse,

Lamellicornes, an insect family of the order Coleoptera.
Its genera most hurtful to living and dead vegetable
substances are the Euchirus and Lucanus.

Lathyrus sativus, Linn., is the lathyros of the Greeks,
and cicercula of the Eomans. It is a coarse kind of pea,
notorious for its effect in producing paralysis if eaten in
quantity. This has been ascribed to its nitrogenous
constituents, in which it is excessively abundant. Colonel
Sleeinan, in 1833-34, found half the youth of both
sexes of villages in East Oudh affected with it, and many
had entirely lost the use of their lower limbs. The
widespread occurrence of paralysis in Sind, after a season
in which this crop was grown in an exceptionally large
area, attracted considerable attention ; and in the Azam-
garh district of Hindustan, where it forms an important
item of diet, similar effects have been observed. Horses
and bullocks when much fed on it are equally liable to
lose the use of their limbs. Cases of paralysis among
the horses in the military station of Almora were traced
to the fraudulent admixture of this pea with the gram
supplied for the use of the troops. — D. & F. — Vem,
Kasari.

Latrodectes lugubris, the kara kurt or black worm of
the Kirghiz, is about the size of a finger nail. It can
jump several feet, and its bite is very venomous. —
Sclmyler, ii. p. 123.

Lecanium, a genus of the CoccidiB family of insects.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 75

In Europe, L. hesperiduin attacks the orange. Lecaiiium
nigrum, one of the two black insects of the Ceylon coffee
planters. L. coffere is the brown or scaly bug. — See
Coffee Trees.

Leeches. — See Heemopsis.

Lepisma, sp.t the fish insect which infests books. This
and Chelifer tailless scorpion eat the soft-bodied acari
that injure books. — See Book-worm.

Leptocorisa Bengalensis, Westwood, L. acuta, Thuribcrg,
L. varicornis, Fabricus ; Munju vandu of the Tamil
people of Tinnevelly ; Gandi of Assam. About January
1886, Mr. Lee-Warner, Collector of the Tinnevelly district
of the Madras Presidency, brought to the notice of the
Director of Eevenue Settlement, that 50 per cent, of the
rice crops nearly throughout the Srivilliputur taluk had
been injured by the Leptocorisa Bengalensis. This-
insect belongs to the family Coreidse of the order Ehyn-
chota, the vast majority of the members of which live
upon the juices of plants, a few only, such as the common
bed-bug, attacking animals. This bug was described in
1837 by Professor Westwood, in his Catalogue of Hemi-
ptera in the Collection of the Eev. F. W. Hope. If the
synonyms prove all to refer to one and the same species,
it will be found to range, under slight variations of form,
from India and Ceylon, through Burma and the Malay
countries, to Australia, wherein it affects low-lying lands
suited to rice cultivation, only occasionally creeping a
short distance up contiguous hill-sides. — W.-M.

Leptura. A small species of this insect genus has
been observed in numbers in the logs of the harder woods
of Kamaon and Garhwal. A larger species has also been
seen. The genus belongs to the family Lougicornes,
order Coleoptera. — R. Thompson.

76 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Lice are classed by naturalists among the Anoplura,
and include the feather and hair-eating family Mallophaga,
with its genera Menopon, Trinoton, Docophorus, Nirmus,
Goniocotes, Gonioides, Lipeurus, Ornithobius, Trichodectes,
Hpematomyzus, Hsematopynus, Phthirius, and the true lice
genus Pediculus, which has P. capitis and its varieties.
Lice of different species, some of different genera, attack
birds, sheep, the dog, cat, ox, elephant, and the monkey.
Turkeys are the hosts of two species of lice, one named
Lipeurus meleagridis or polytrapezius, lives principally
on the wings ; the other, Gonioides stylifer, prefers the
head, neck, and breast of the bird. — Morton's Cyclopaedia.

Ligurus ruficeps is the sugar-cane beetle of the United
States. It is a stout black beetle, half an inch long,
which bores into the stalk of the sugar-cane underground.
It has not been traced in India.

Lixus. A longish weevil, seemingly a species of Lixus,
one of the divisions into which the Longirostres have
been made, was constantly found by Mr. Thompson under
the bark of felled logs. It bores with facility through
the softer parts of wood.

Longicornes or Capricorn beetles, a family of the order
Ooleoptera. Its more injurious genera are the Cerambyx,
Lamia, Leptura, Monochamus, Prionus, and Saperda.

Loranthus. The epiphytic Loranthaceo3 parasites injured
the Acacia melanoxylon of the Neilgherries. The parasite
covered the larger branches, diverting the sap. — See
Parasites.

LucanidsB, or stag - beetles, are pre-eminently wood-
feeders. They live, in their larva stage, in the interior
of the trunks of large trees. Species of the genus occur
throughout India. Mr. Hope, writing on the insects
collected by Dr. W. Griffith in Assam, mentions Lucanus

THE AGKICl'LTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 77

Forsteri, L. Kafflesii, L. Spencii, L. curvidens, L. bulbosus,
arid L. punctiger. The Lucanus cervus, when in felled
logs, are easily killed by immersion in cold water, or
by pouring scalding water into their hole. No grub can
withstand this operation.

The stag-beetles in India are numerous, and common
as to individuals, and are, of the whole order of wood-
beetles, the most destructive to living trees. Their larvae
live for three or four years in the interior of trunks of
oak, and about Nairn Tal barely one in ten of the trees
escape their ravages. These and the larvae of Prionus
beetles seem exclusively to attach themselves there to
the oak as their habitation. They bore to the heart of
the stern, in winding passages. Male stag-beetles have
been found feeding on the renewed bark (after shaving)
of Cinchona succirubra trees, in Maskeliya, Ceylon.
The female has much shorter mandibles, and is said to
use them in forming a hole in the trunks of trees for the
reception of its eggs. Mr. Westwood says (i. p. 187) the
perfect insect feeds on the honey-dew upon the leaves of
the oak ; they also feed upon the sap exuding from the
wounds of trees, which they lap up with their finely-
ciliated maxillae and lower lip. It has been supposed
that the larva of this insect, which chiefly hides in the
willow and oak, remaining in that state several years,
is the animal so much esteemed by the Eomans as a
delicacy, and named cossus. The injury which it causes
is often very considerable, boring not only into the solid
wood, but also into the roots of the tree. A stag-beetle
received from Maskeliya was a male with immense
mandibles, and greatly resembled Lucanus cervus, the
common stag-beetle of Europe. — E. T.

Lycosa tarantula. Tarantula spiders are poisonous.

78 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

They belong to the genus Lycosa of Latreille. They are
characterized by having the eyes arranged in an elongated
quadrilateral form. There are several species. — See
Araneidie. — M. T.

M

Maggot. Mr. (Sir) H. B. Loch mentions (p. 183) that
in all the Chinese prisons a small maggot lodges a few
inches under the surface, and is a scourge of the prisoners.
Maggot, grub, and caterpillar are popular terms applied
to the larva? of certain insects.

Makora, in the vernacular of Hindustan, a generic
term for four kinds of larvre of longicorn beetles, depred-
ators on the Shorea robusta and the pine.

Mamestra papaverorum attacks the growing poppy in
February arid March. They become entrapped in the
maturing capsules. — E. T.

Mammals. — The bear, boar, elephant, galeopithecus,
hyaena, jackal, porcupine, pteropus or flying fox, cynopterus,
shrew, and wolf, all inflict injury on man and his products.
In 1882-83, in British India, the numbers of persons
killed by wild beasts and snakes were 22,905, and of
cattle so killed 47,478, as under : —

Persons. Cattle.

By Elephants, ... 63 36

Tigers, ... 985 16.563

Leopards, ... 217 19,064

Bears, .... 119 315

Wolves, ... 287 6,704

Hyaenas, ... 28 1,181

Others, . . . 1,139 1,971

Snakes, . , . 20,067 1,644

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 79

Wild Beasts Destroyed, Rewards Paid.

1882-83. Rs.

Elephants, ... 4 100

Tigers, . . . .1,825 48,487

Leopards, . . . .4,349 64,653

Bears, . . . .1,599 7,039

Wolves, . . . .6,239 21,555

Hysenas, . . . .1,569 5,223

Other wild beasts, . . . 4,304 4,948

Total, . . 19,889 1,52,005

Snakes, .... 412,782 22,353

In India, after droughts and famines, the locusts and
the Golunda meltada field rats migrate in myriads, eating
up every green thing. Such migration of rats occurred
in the Peninsula in 1826. After the famine of 1877-
1878, the Bombay Government gave a rupee for every
hundred tails, and it is said 11,000,000 were destroyed.
In 1875-76 rats infested the watersheds of the Salwin
and Sitang. According to Bancroft, rats were driven
from parts of Jamaica, utterly exterminated by an ant,
to which the colonists gave the name of Tom Baffles, but
the remedy was worse than the disease. But what India
has most to dread is drought.

In the Indian famine of 1877-78, in the Peninsula
of India, millions of the inhabitants, and the bulk of
their horned cattle, perished. Mr. Forbes tells us, on the
authority of the Batavia HandelsUad, that in Java the
years 1877 and 1878 were marked by great droughts.
From that of the latter year the loss on the coffee estates
from the Hemileia vastatrix, or leaf blight, was ten million
guilders ; on sugar, seven ; on tobacco, five ; and on rice,
fifteen — equal in all to a loss, in English money, of
£3,000,000. Along with these disastrous seasons came
a terrible epizootic among the buffaloes, which had not

80 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

disappeared in the middle of 1883. Not only was the
coffee blighted, but the grass meadows and the forest
trees were covered with a fungoid disease. In Sumatra,
not alone the buffaloes suffered ; numbers of the elephants,
the deer, and the wild pigs died in the forests, and by
preying on the dying herds even tigers fell victims to the
pestilence. In Timor, also, in the higher parts of the
island, the cattle were attacked ; while in the southern
plains, the pigs and the horses, which there run wild in
herds, were found scattered about in the forest dead.

The elephants, sometimes solitary, sometimes in herds,
at times do much injury to villages.

The shrews passing over food articles so taint them
with the musky odour as to make them useless.

The porcupine does much harm to plantations.

The wolves, wild dogs, and jackals hunt in packs, but
there is no record of the wild dog destroying man. Not
so of the other two.

In 1874, Dy. Surgeon General John Shortt proposed a
very effective mode of destroying tigers, to which effect
might be given.

In India the wild boar frequently occupies a patch of
sugar-cane.

While man and domesticated animals have to be pro-
tected against the attacks of carnivorous mammals, the
horned cattle of India demand from man a special care.
They are the agriculturists' chief wealth ; and anthrax,
rinderpest, dysentery, and epizootic aphtha inflict vast
losses. Beginnings have been made. The Madras
Government has (18 8 6) an Inspector and Deputy-Inspector
of Cattle Diseases, with fourteen local inspectors ; and the
Glanders and Farcy Act (Act xx. of 1879) of the Govern-
ment of India was framed to stamp out these diseases.

THE AGHICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 8 1

In India the most important diseases of horned stock
are rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, hoven, quarter-ill,
pleuro - pneumonia, lihooknee or purging, cystic disease,
throat swelling, and anthrax.

Einderpest is the designation given, in the Indian
Cattle Plagues Report, to the highly -infectious disease
which Dr. Gilchrist, in 1848, described under the term
' Burra Azar,' or great sickness. The Burra Azar occurs
in an epizootic form over all India, Burma, and Ceylon,
but has various native names. It is highly infectious,
and recovery is rare. ' The yearly loss is very serious,
and to be counted by hundreds of thousands.' The
natives ' confess their powerlessness to treat this disease;'
and the India Commissioners can only recommend a
quarantine isolation of the sick cattle, burying those that
die, and disinfecting of localities. Einderpest, cholera,
and small-pox ' are hot- weather diseases ; they do occur
simultaneously, but not invariably, necessarily, or even
very frequently.' ' Inoculation from this distemper
resulted in the development of a varioloid disease.'

Foot-and-mouth disease does not cause great mortality.
The deaths are caused by inability to eat owing to disease
of the mouth, or to severe ulceration of the feet owing to
the development of maggots. The mouth is recommended
to be washed with a solution of alum (10 grs. to 1 oz.),
and the feet to be treated with camphor and oil or
carbonic acid and oil. It is the Aphtha epizootica.

Hoven is an exceedingly common form of fatal disease
among Indian cattle. It consists of suffocation from over-
distention of the rumen, or with food or flatus. Tapping
is not known to the people, and they mostly think the
disease incurable. A large aggregate amount of stock
yearly falls victims to this preventible and curable disease.

F

82 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Quarter-ill or quarter-evil, the black-leg of Scotland,
occurs in Jessore. It has its origin in causes which may
affect the members of a herd in common, and thus may
assume the aspect of an epizootic. It is often fatal.

Pleuro-pneumonia is known in the Panjab and Sind ;
and, although not so general or destructive as rinderpest
or bhooknee, the disease is a common and destructive one.
It appears to be more sporadic than epizootic. The
people do not think it is contagious ; but this is not in
accordance with the opinion in Great Britain, South
Africa, and Australia, and it is recommended to act upon
the contagious view.

Bhoolmee or purging is an endemic disease of the
Panjab, caused by improper diet and watering, and
occurring to an exceptionally severe extent in an excep-
tionally dry year.

Cyst disease, Echinococcus veterinorum, is the larva of
Tsenia echinococcus, and is prevalent among all Indian
cattle. Tsenia medio-canellata is the beef helminth.

Throat disease is epizootic and fatal among Indian
cattle. It was not seen by the Commissioners, but was
surmised to be a swelling of the parotid and submaxillary
glands, or an effusion of blood into the subcutaneous
cellular tissue of the neck and dewlap. The people fire
the parts.

The males of the larger of the mammalia have fierce
combats for -supremacy, and the defeated combatant,
driven from the herd, leads a solitary life, always morose,
and frequently mischievous. In Ceylon the elephants so
apart are known as the ' rogue,' but the term is applied
to the similarly separated males of the wild buffalo, the
hippopotamus, and sperm whale, and in that state they
often go out of their way to attack man.

THE AGKICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 83

The Ursus Malayanus, Sciurus palmarum or palm
squirrel, the common rat, and the palm martin, Para-
doxurus typus, are all accused of destroying the cocoa-
nut.

Deer will not enter fields when the safflower has been
sown intermixed with the cereals or millets.

Dogs refuse to sleep on rugs beneath which mint has
been laid. — Commissioners' Report, 1871. — See Helminths.

Mango Worm. The Indian Agriculturist of the 19th
December 1885 quotes the Eeis and Eayyot native
newspaper as stating that ' the fly is so tenacious of life
that it thrives within the heart of the fruit. You cut a
fruit apparently sound, without a spot on the surface,
when, lo ! the fly issues out of the interior and buzzes
about you. These insects have degraded the East Bengal
mango for at least more than half a century, and yet no
notice has been taken of the matter.' The scientific name
of this insect is a desideratum.

Measle. — See Helminths.

Melolonthidae. In the tea plantations of the Dehra
Doon, a small beetle occurred, supposed to be one of
this family. It lay two or three inches in the ground
during the day. It was dug up in bushels and destroyed.

Melolontha vulgaris is the common cockchafer of
Europe. M. Eeiset estimated that, in 1865—66, agricul-
tural produce to the value of more than a million sterling
was destroyed in the Department of Seine Infe*rieure. There
are many species belonging to the Melolonthideous or
Cetonideous genera in Ceylon. Under the name of white
grub were included the larvae of various Melolonthidae, the
cockchafers of Ceylon, which do much harm to coffee plan-
tations, young and old, by eating the roots of the trees.
Mr. J. L. Gordon, of Eambodde, considered the white grub

84 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

to be by far the greatest enemy of the coffee trees with
which the planter had to contend, as he- never knew a
single tree recover after their attack ; and he adds that
they had destroyed, at Eambodde, in two years, between
eight and ten thousand trees of fine old coffee. Mr.
Gordon used to dig up the soil at the foot of the trees
and take out such grubs as he could find. — K Thompson.

Melophagus ovinus is the sheep tick. — See Ixodes.

Mites. Cheese mites can be eaten with impunity. — See
Acarina.

Mollusca inflict injury on man and his industries.
"Woodward, writing in England, says : ' All the land snails
are vegetable feeders, and their depredations are but too
well known to the gardener and farmer ; many a crop of
winter corn and spring tares has been wasted by the
ravages of the small grey slug.' ' They hold white mustard
in abhorrence, and fast or shift their quarters while that
crop is on the ground.' Dilute lime-water and very
weak alkaline solutions are more fatal to snails than
even salt.

The genus Octopus, one of the Cephalopoda, destroys
many of the Crustacea, and its long arms cling to the
arms and legs of people in the water. The habits of the
predatory mollusca of India await examination. Among
the mollusca, the cone species, the genus pleurotoma,
inflict bites which inflame and become dangerous.

Monochamus soongna, a Longicorn beetle, attacks the
' seemul ' Bombax heptaphyllum, the ' soongna ' Moringa
pterygosperma, and the c roongrah ' Erythrina suberosa.
It is a magnificent beetle of the tribe Cerambycidse ; and
its large larvae, armed with powerful mandibles, are very
destructive to the woods of these trees. Out of a six-
foot log of moringa, Mr. Thompson collected forty-three

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 85

perfect beetles, five or six pupse, and about a dozen larvce.
Another monochamous beetle attacks the Butea frondosa
and the wild willow, Salix tetrasperma, entering the
trunk and boring in all directions. A third species has
its pupse inclosed in solid cocoons made of a substance
resembling lime, with a shell fully one-sixteenth of an
inch in thickness, quite hard and firm. Its larvae and
pupae are both found in the woods of the Odina wodier
and Bombax heptaphyllum. — E. Thompson.

Mosquito blight. Have toon trees anything to do
with mosquito blight ? The manager of the Chenga Tea
Estate noted that, ' both in the hills and here, these trees
are always more or less blighted the whole year round,
and that the tea bushes under them and near by are
always the first to be attacked.' Wherever toon trees are
on the garden, he adds, the blight is worst, c so that I
would recommend every tree being cut down, as they are
perfectly useless and valueless — all leaves and small
branches to be burned.' — See Helopeltis ; Tea-bug.

Moths known to science number 40,000 to 50,000. —
See Coffee Trees.

Muscidse. A family of dipterous insects, including
the common house-fly, the blue-bottle, the flesh-fly, the
green-bottle fly, the tse-tse, the phorides, cestrides. The
number of dipterous insects on the globe is estimated at
150,000 to 160,000.— See Flies.

Mycoidea parasitica, D. D. Cunningham. A cryptogam
plant observed at Calcutta on the leaves of the Camellia
Japonica as a destructive sloughing blight ; occurring also
on tea and rhododendron leaves, ferns, and crotons.

Mygalidse.— See Araneidse.

Myrmeleon, or ant lion, are species of the Myr-
meleontidae, and the genera Myrmeleon and Palpares.

86 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

They are useful to man. They excavate cup-shaped
hollows, at the bottom of which they lie in ambush and
seize the insects that fall down the smooth sides.

N

Necrophorus. — See Coleoptera; Silphidse.

Necera lepida, Cramer, the Limacodes graciosa, West.,
short, broad, pale-green, with black spines, which feeds on
the Carissa jasminiflora, stings with fury. It occupies
also the Thespesia populnea, and at a certain stage of its
growth descends by a silken thread and hurries away.

Nepa cinerea, Linn., commonly called water scorpion
or water spider, is a hemipterous insect, belonging to
the section Heteroptera, and to the family Hydrocores.

Neuroptera, the lace -wing order of insects, to which
belong the termes, white ants, of the family Plani-
pennes. The larvse attack growing and dead vegetable
matter. Examples of this class are May flies, dragon
flies, winged white ants.

Nicotiana tabacum, Linn., and N. rustica, Linn., are
said in the North- Western Provinces never to be attacked
by insects. The leaves occasionally suffer from a grey
mildew called ' kapti ' in the Azamgarh district. —
D. & F. — Vern. TamaJca,

Noctua exclamationis, the khumwa of the Assamese,
the heart and dart moth, is the common pest of field and
garden crops. In the caterpillar stage it attacks the
young poppy plant, cutting across the stalk close to the
surface of the soil, and in a night will cut down fifty to
a hundred or more plants. The caterpillar is nearly
cylindrical, and 1J to 2 inches long.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 87

Noctua segetum is the corn dart moth of England.
In India it or a variety or allied species is known as
the khumwa ; in its larva state infests the young poppy.
It gnaws out the stalk close to the ground, and a single
caterpillar, in the course of a night's raid, will cut down
from fifty to a hundred or more plants. It is the most
destructive of the insect foes of the young poppy, but
not unfrequently extends its ravages to the adjoining
crops of mustards, pulses, etc. It is checked by dust-
ing with a mixture of quicklime and ashes.

A species of noctua in its caterpillar state in Bengal
attacks the young sprouts of the potato-plant, boring
into them under the surface of the soil, and consuming
the soft interior parts, so that the whole shoot withers
and dies.

Noctua, sp., observed by Mr. J. Scott at Medapore
in gardens, had a caterpillar 1 to 1^- inch long, with
a small brown horny head, six pectoral, eight abdominal,
and two anal feet. They pass into the pupa state in
a thin webby cocoon, formed on the lower surface of
the poppy leaves. The moth emerges in from 14 to 20
days, measuring about 2^ inches from tip to tip of
the forewings. Its caterpillar feeds on the leaves of
the cabbage and the green leaves of the poppy. — J. Scott.

(Ecidium Thomson! infests the Abies Smithiana fir-tree.

(Edipoda cinerascens and (E. migratoria are species of
locusts, the latter is the oriental locust. They are
exceedingly voracious, and when they appear in great
numbers, they do much damage in cultivated ground.

88 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

While still in their larval state they travel in search of
nourishment ; but their great wanderings are in flight
when they have attained their perfect state. They clear
everything off the surface of the ground as completely as
if it had been visited by fire, and have sometimes caused
disastrous famines. Southey in Thalala says : —

' Onward they come, a dark continuous cloud
Of congregated myriads, numberless,
The rushing of whose wings was as the sound
Of a broad river headlong in its course,
Plunged from a mountain summit, or the roar
Of a wild ocean in the autumn storm,
Shattering its billows on a shore of rocks.'

They have repeatedly invaded Northern India, Sind,
Eajputana, the Bombay Dekhan, and the Ceded Districts ;
and Major Moore mentions that on one occasion they
devastated Maharashtra over a width of 500 miles.
The starling, Pastor roseus, is their great destroyer ; but
in their larva state, as they travel onwards, trenches are
dug in their front, into which they fall and are covered
over. Swarms appear in the Ceded Districts in May and
June, depositing their eggs, about 70 in each hole, and
three months is the period of incubation.

(Estrides. (Estrus bovis, Z., the ox oestrus ; QE. ovis,
Z., the sheep oestrus or Cephalemyea ovis ; QE. equi, Z.,
the horse oestrus. (E. elephantis takes up its abode
in the stomach of the elephant. (E. equi and (E. ovis
cause the death of many of their victims.

QEstrus equi occurs in the south of Europe and Persia.
It is a dipterous insect. Its eggs are deposited on the
hair of the horse, and licked into the stomach, and when
complete the insects pass through the canal. (E. ovis, of
Europe and the East Indies, lays its eggs in the nostrils

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 89

of the sheep, and the worm from it occupies the frontal
sinuses, and gives rise to fatal diseases.

Opium. A yellow mould resembling Sporotrichum
lias been seen (C. & 2?.) in the heart of a ball of opium,
and a white mould also occurs on opium, and more than
one species is troublesome in the opium factories of India.
—C. & B.— See Poppy.

Palm trees are attacked by the Ehynchophorus palm-
sirum, the Euchirus longimanus, chafer, the Sphaeno-
phorus planipennis, weevil of Ceylon ; and in Malacca,
the cocoa-nut trees are further injured by the Xylotrupes
gideon and Oryctes rhinoceros.

Panicum frumentaceum, Roxb., is liable to damage from
excessive rain, and suffers from blight. It is sown a little
before or after the rains break. The crop is a bountiful
one. — Vern. Sawan.

Panicum miliaceum, Linn., is sown in March, and
ripens towards the middle of May. It is very liable to
damage from the hot winds. — D. & F. — Vern. Cheehna.

Paraponyx oryzalis, Wood-Mason. The Burmese people
say that their paddy is liable to four "blights, which they
name Y-wet-pyat-po, Pin-bo or Oo-shouk-po, Sat-mee,
and Palan-byoo, and these have been described by Mr.
Mouna Too. The Palau-byoo blight of Burma is caused
by the Paraponyx oryzalis of Mr. Wood-Mason, who
says it is a small insect belonging to the hetero-
cerous division of the order Lepidoptera. In two stages
of its metamorphosis, it is known to the Burmese as
the Tein-doung-bo and the Palan-byoo, the one being

90 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

the caterpillar and the other the pupa or chrysalis. The
caterpillar is about 7 millim., or rather more than
y long. The pupa is fusiform, 9 '5 millim. long by
2*25 millim. broad. The cocoon is 12 millim. long and
2 '5 broad. It is composed of whitish silk. The
Paraponyx oryzalis is an animal of considerable interest
to naturalists, inasmuch as in its larval stages it is
specially modified for a purely aquatic life ; in the
caterpillar stage, breathing water by means of tracheal
gills.— JF.-Jf.

Parasites are animals or vegetables. The former, for the
greater part of their life, live in or on the bodies of other
animals. Vegetable parasites attach themselves to other
plants, whose juices they absorb. Among the parasitic
vegetables are several fungi. The genera of the order
Loranthace^e are all parasitic ; the mistletoe, Yiscum
album, is found on the alder, elm, maple, olive, mulberry,
poplar, walnut, and willow in the Himalaya and the
Suliman range ; V. monoicum is parasitic on Elseoden-
dron and other trees. Arceuthobium oxycedri grows
on the branches of the Juniperus excelsa, often killing
the branch. Species of Loranthus on the Neilgherries
destroyed plantations of Australian acacia, attacking the
peach and other trees ; while, in the Sub-Himalayan
tracts, the oak, platanus, salix, rhododendron, mango,
peach, and pear all suffer from other Loranthi.

Animal parasites attack man and other animals. Among
them may be named Acari, sp., the Argas, Ascarides, Ancy-
lostomum, Bothriocephalus, Cysticerci, Echinococci, Filaria,
Fistularia, flea, flukes, harvest-bug, Helmintha, louse,
(Estridea, Oxyurus, Sarcoptus, Spiroptera, Strongylus,
Teenia, Thecosoma, tick, Tricocephalus. The bites of all
are painful, many of them dangerous. In classifying

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 91

parasites, they are usually arranged as Endo-parasites or
Entozoa when they infest the internal organs, such as
the stomach and bowels, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. ; and
as Ecto-parasites or Epizoa when found on the external
surface of the body.

There are at least other six orders of noxious animals,
which though so called are not parasites, but which have
a special interest to stock- owners and veterinary practi-
tioners, viz. Nematoda, Trematoda, Cestoda, Acanthoce-
phala, Diptera, and Trachearia. — Mr. W. S. Connochie,
V.S.} Selkirk, Lid. Agr.y 19th Dec. 1885. — See Helminths,

Parrots. The tota or rose-ringed parrakeet rips up the
ripe capsules of the poppy. If much disturbed, they
steal suddenly down, cut off the capsule, which they
carry to some adjoining tree. They are usually in
small flocks, and if not watched they soon seriously
reduce the seed produce of a field.

Paspalum scrobiculatum, Linn., is sown in the end of
June and cut in October. It suffers considerably from
the attacks of insects, but is said to be protected from
the ravages of birds by its ear being partially concealed
in the leaf-sheath, as is the case with the coarse varieties
of rice. Its use is liable to produce a sort of intoxica-
tion.— D. & F. — Vern. Koda.

Peenash, HIND. The larva of some insect takes up its-
abode in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone, and pro-
duces the disease known as the peenash in North- Western
India. The larva is small, articulated, and terminates in
a spiral tail ; its mouth and eyes are distinct.

Pellicularia koleroga, hypophylla, effusa, griseo-alba are
fungi. Pellicularia koleroga, or black rot, or coffee-leaf
rot, a fungus, an epiphyte which injures the leaves of
the coffee tree.

92 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Penicillaria spicata, Willd., the bulrush millet, suffers
still more than Sorghum vulgare from the microscopic
fungus known to English farmers as ' bunt/ and in the
-North- Western Provinces is reported to be often infected
with a species of mildew called ' bagulia ' (Puccinia, sp.\
which manifests itself first in spots on the foliage, and then
in total destruction of the grain. But it owes in great
measure its liability to these diseases to the poverty of
the soil on which it is cultivated, and the mildew is said
to be most destructive in cases where it has been grown
too frequently on the same land. Next to an absolute
failure of rain, this millet suffers most from damp or
rainy weather while it is in flower, by which the proper
fertilization of the flowers is prevented. The stamens
hang outside the flower-envelopes entirely unprotected
from the weather, and it is perhaps to this that the
Penicillaria owes its peculiar liability to damage from
rain. If rain fall in the beginning of October, it is no
uncommon thing to see a Penicillaria field with hardly a
single grain formed on its spikes. — D. & F. — Vern.
JSajra.

Periplaneta. — See Cockroach.

Phaseolus radiatus, Linn., is the ' urd ' or ' mash.' If
there be a long continuance of damp easterly winds, the
plants suffer greatly from mildew. — D. & F. — Vern. Urd,
Mash.

Phyllotreta nemorum, turnip-fly of Britain.

Phylloxera. — See Aphides.

Phymatea punctata aided in destroying the coffee
industry of Ceylon. — See Cicadidse ; Coffee Trees.

Physalia pelagica, the Portuguese man-o'-war, stings if
handled, causing a good deal of irritation. — See Actinese.

Pipsa, a troublesome dipterous insect which swarms

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 9$

on the banks of the streams in Sikkim ; it is very smallx
floating like a speck before the eye. The bite of the
pipsa leaves a small spot of extravasated blood under the
cuticle, very irritating if not opened. It resembles a
flea, and is found on the banks of the Kungeet river in
Sikkim. In 1883, an expedition was sent by the Indian
Government against the Aka, a hill tribe whose territory
lies to the north of Tezpur on the Brahmaputra. Both
among troops and followers serious disability and loss of
service resulted from the bite of this small insect. — See
Eye-fly.

Pisum arvense, Linn., and P. sativus, Linn., are the
field and garden peas. Like gram, they suffer (especially
the white varieties) from frost, and from the ravages of
the insect called ' bahadura.' — D. & F. — Vern. Mattar,
Batana.

Poppy. The native cultivators engaged in the cultivation
of the opium poppy distinguish several varieties which
differ little in outward appearance, but considerably
in the amount and quality of the opium they yield. In
the North- Western Provinces, it is the white-flowered
varieties that are grown for opium. In Malwa, the
red or purple flowered kind is extensively cultivated.
The insect enemies of the poppy are many, and have
been arranged in three classes : —

1. Insects attacking the young poppy in November
and December: — Acheta campestris, A. domesticus, and
Acheta undetermined species ; Grylli, two species ;
Gryllotalpa vulgaris.

2. Insects attacking the maturing poppy in February
and March : — Mamestra papaverorum ; Noctua, sp.; Bom-
byx, sp., the buro bhooa ; Gryllus, sp.

3. Insects which attack the poppy seeds in the;

"94 THE AGRICULTUEAL PESTS OF INDIA.

granaries : — Bruchus, sp., larvse and imago ; Calandra,
perfect insect ; dipterous larvae ; Sitona, sp. ; Tetranychus
papaverae ; Tipula, sp.

The protection of the poppy plant is an object of
great moment to the Government of British India, as
will be recognised when it is mentioned that in the ten
years 1875 to 1885 inclusive, the Indian revenue from
opium averaged Es. 9,47,10,229, or deducting the ex-
penditure, an average net receipt of Es. 7,20,30,816.
In the year 1885-86, the value of the opium exported
from India was Es. 10,53,75,180.

In 1878, Mr. John Scott, writing from Deegah on the
enemies of the poppy, reported that classes of moths
appear there at two periods, one in February and March,
when in their caterpillar state they are the foes of the
young poppy ; another class appearing in August, and
disappearing in the early part of September, the cater-
pillar form of which feed chiefly on the young crops of
the rainy seasons, legumes or pulses.

He recommended earlier sowings, rotation of crops,
and on the appearance of the vernal insects, sprinkling
the young plants in the evening with quicklime mixed
with ashes or soot. Liberal irrigation, he says, brings the
cricket and grasshopper class to the surface, where hand-
picking and birds aid in their destruction.

In February and March 1871, the poppy crop in
Behar was very seriously injured by heavy rain, accom-
panied by hail, and this was followed in March by blight
of an unusually injurious character, under which the
plant withered and turned black, and eventually died.
The poppy in the Benares district became similarly
diseased. The disease was attributed to the inclement
cweather. But in the south of the Patna district a grub

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 95

lay concealed, burrowed in the ground all day, and at
night came out and nipped off the young plant a little
above the root, giving it the appearance of having been
destroyed by hares. The blights of the poppy in Chota
Nagpore are known as the lahai, moorka, and jureet.
The lahai was that of 1871, which in Fyzabad was
attributed to three insects called the ' gudarlah/ ' bhudo-
weah,' and 'jewriah.' A winged insect appeared in
Bustee called guduhilee, and two in Saharanpore, the
' koongy ' and ' mahoo.'

Among the diseases of the poppy crop enumerated by
him are : — Aregnia, broom-rapes, cladosporium, dactylium,
gangrene, lecythea, mucor mucedo, orobranche,peronospora,
petechiae, phelipea, scleriasis, sporotrichum, sun-burning,
trichoderma.

Scleriasis, a peculiar affection of the poppy, character-
ized by the hardening, so to speak, of the whole outer
tissues of the plant, and the utter arrest of the drug
secretions. Such cases of functional derangement are
very prevalent in the local crops from unselected seed,
and subsequently cause serious deterioration to the crop.
The disease or affection is hereditary ; that is, a large per-
centage of the progeny is similarly affected. All plants so
affected should be uprooted.

Petechiae, another hereditary disease, is seriously
deteriorative to the secretion of drug. All affected
plants should be carefully removed.

Broom -rapes, the 'thokra' of the natives, affect the
roots of the poppy, etc. The seeds of these plants are
so exceedingly minute that a breath of air will widely
distribute them. The tomato and the brinjal (Solanum
melongena) are affected by them! They should be care-
fully uprooted on making their appearance.

96 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Peronospora arborescens is a most serious parasitic
foe of the opium poppy. It is a blight-mould confined
to the leaves, and is more or less common on the plant
in one or other of its modes of development. Differ-
ences in the degree of oxygenation of the juices promote,,
suppress, or impede the development of this mould.

Phelipea Inclica, one of the broom-rapes, is a phoeno-
gamic root parasite, frequently causing much damage to
the poppy. Where it is of frequent occurrence, mustard
seeds should be sown along with the poppy seeds. The
growth of the poppy is not checked, but it never yields
the full amount of opium. It is in many districts a
serious pest to the poppy ; is very prevalent in parts of
the Patna Division. Orobranche cernua and 0. Indica.
two species of broom-rapes in Bengal, are parasites of the
tobacco plant.

Sun -burning is the 'moorka' or 'joorka' of the
natives, due to the sun scorching the plant. The leaves
are dry and withered, with more or less discoloured
purply-black or brownish veins. It occurs in hot seasons,.
with a deficiency of moisture in the soil.

Eoot canker occurs in stiff clayey soils, with an excess
of the oxides of iron or manganese, or with an excess of
any of the alkaline salts. The tap-root becomes corroded,
and the leaves wither from below upwards.

Petechia. The leaves first acquire a pale yellow tinge,,
and subsequently the whole surface becomes gradually
studded with specks and patches of a pale purply-black
colour, but confined chiefly to the leaves. It is due to
overcrowding in damp soils.

Gangrene occurs on all the affected plants ; juices
exude, forming small black specks, or even large black
tears, all over the plant.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 97

Dactylium roseum (syn. Tricothecium roseum), or
thread-mould, is a creeping mycelium, from which arise
short erect threads, crowned above with a few obovate,
unistipitate spores. The mass is at first white, but at
length acquires a pale rose colour. It occurs on various
objects, living or dead, and is sometimes highly destruct-
ive to the cucumber plants. It is very common over
all the poppy during moist warm weather, and also on
opium everywhere, but does not injure the opium.

Trichoderma viride, a minute thread-mould, with
snowy white threads, from which spring numerous spores
of a pale greenish-yellow colour. It jiffects the roots and
base of the stem of the poppy.

Sporotrichum, sp.t is not unfrequent on the roots of
the poppy.

Cladosporium herbarium is very common in the older
gummy exudations of the poppy, and on any injured part.

Mucor mucedo, an extremely common, blackish-looking
mould.

Aregma moniliforme, the necklace brand, is found on
the stem and leaves of the poppy.

Lecythea, sp., is a yellow rust, which in 1866-67
formed a dense and thick layer over the surface of the
leaves of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum.

Trichobasis, s^>., an orange-coloured rust, is a parasitic
fungus which causes extensive injury in the later cereal
crops of Bengal, barley and wheat more especially. It
also affects the tobacco and henbane plants.

Ustilago, sp., is detected on the millets, or from the
smut-coloured ears.

Caterpillars do some damage, and to attract them such
crops as lettuce are sometimes mixed with the poppy.

An east wind during lancing time is exceedingly harm-

G

98 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

fill, as the juice is prevented exuding properly. Dr. D.
Cunningham, of the Bengal Medical Service, in 1875,
published microscopical notes regarding the fungi present
in opium blight. — John Scott, 1877.

Poppy seeds in the granary and store pots are injured
by several insects : — Bruchus, two species, in their larval
and perfect form ; Calandra, sp., the perfect insect only ;
dipterous larvae ; Sitona, sp., larva and perfect forms ;
Tetranychus papa verse, poppy seed mite ; Tipula, sp.t the
larvse and pupae. The insects which attack the young
poppy in November, December, February, and March are
Acheta, three species ; Bombyx, sp. ; the Gryllus, two
species, the kala-jhangha ; Gryllotalpa vulgaris ; Heliothes
urmigera ; and two species of Noctua. — -D. & F. — Vcrn.
Posta. — See Fungi.

Porcupine. — See Mammalia.

Prionus, a genus of the longicornes or Capricorn beetles.
They inhabit the plants of an Alpine region. — E. T.

Pseudococcus adonidum, the mealy bug of Ceylon coffee-
planters.

Puccinia graminis, the corn mildew fungus.
Pulex, the flea genus. P. canis, P. felis, P. gallinse,
P. meles are the fleas of the dog, lion, fowl, and badger.
Fleas are numerous even on the sea-shores of the cool
climate of Great Britain in the hot weather. But in
tropical countries, in warehouses and other buildings
where no diet for them seems to exist, they are occa-
sionally in myriads. Mr. W. M. Williams, writing in
Science Gossip, December 1884, says he had found fleas
in limestone caverns, where their only possible supply
of food was the animal matter that may have remained
in the fossils, of which the limestone was chiefly com-
posed. They appear in countless numbers in India,

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 99

almost everywhere, at the closing months of the year,
alike in the most exposed as in the most sheltered spots,
and the most bare and rocky ground.

R

Reptile pests of India are noticed under Crocodiles and
Snakes. The toad is serviceable in the kitchen garden as
a slug and insect destroyer, but it is a determined bee-
eater. The honey-laden bees returning from their foraging
may fall at the bottom of their hive and become the prey
of the watchful toad.

Rhynchites, a genus of small weevils, very destructive
of the forests of Northern India. By it and the species
of Bruchus, in 1863, entire seed crops of the Shorea
robusta were destroyed.

Rhynchophora, or the weevil family, of the order Coleo-
ptera. Its most destructive genera are Bruchus, Calandra,
Curculio, and Khyncoenus.

Rhynchophorus palmarum attacks the palms, bananas,
and sugar-cane in Malacca.

Rhyncoenus, a genus of the rhynchophora or weevil
family. — E. T.

Rice is the food of the well-to-do classes along the
coasts and in the valleys of British India. Eice, in the
North- Western Provinces, has most to fear from the
' green fly/ called ' gandiki ' or ' tank ; ' and as they do
not commence their attacks until towards the end of
August, it is the finer varieties which suffer most.
Strong and healthy plants suffer much less than back-
ward ones ; and this is a reason for early sowing. —
D. & F. — Vern. Dhan. — See Paraponyx.

100 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Ricinus communis, Linn., the castor - oil plants, when
allowed to stand three or four years in the North- Western
Provinces, become breeding - g%round for a hairy brown,
caterpillar, which is supposed to bring ill-luck. — D. & F.
— Vern. Arendi.

Rust is a disease of plants. Peridermium Thomsonii,
'Berk.., affects the foliage and twigs of coniferous trees of
Northern India and Himalaya, Other known species are
Periderm. pini, Chev., Europe ; P. elatinum, Link., Europe ;
and P. columni. Leaf rusts are also known to be caused
by Melampsora salicina ; M. populina, Lev. ; M. Tremuke,
Lev* ; M. betulina, Desm. ; M. padi, Kurze. ; Uredo
quercus ; Lecythea mixta, Lev. ; L. saliceti, Lev. ; Puc-
cinia prunorum ; P. buxi, D. ; Uromyces buxi, Cooke,
Himalaya.

s

Saccharum officinarum, Linn., is the sugar-cane. Many
varieties of it are grown in India, but they may be
noticed here as edible and non-edible cane, the former
being eaten raw, as a fruit, while the latter is utilized in
the manufacture of sugar. Edible cane is much the
thicker, softer, and juicier, and is grown with very high
cultivation. Its principal variety is in the North- Western
Provinces known as the ' phaunda.' In the North-
Western Provinces the most distinct varieties of non-
edible cane are four in number, viz. the ' dikchan ' of
Eohilkhand, called ' barokha ' in Cawnpore, growing as
high as 10 feet; one of 5 or 6 feet, called ' agholi' or
' matna ; ' thirdly, a hard, tall, reddish cane, of poor
quality, called 'chin/ and grown without irrigation in
damp localities ; and fourth, the ' dhor,' a dwarf cane, white

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 101

and hard. Sugar-cane is propagated by layers or cuttings,
long enough to include two internodes, i.e. two nodes or
joints. The young canes are produced from buds, which
spring from the nodes under artificial stimulation, by
burying them for several days in damp earth, and soaking
in water for twelve hours before planting. In Bareilly, an
ordinary plough, which has been appeased with sacrificial
offerings of turmeric and rice, and decorated with the
' tika ' in red earth, strikes the first furrow. This is
followed in the same furrow by a second, with mould-
board attached to widen and deepen the furrow. Behind
this conies the sower, wearing silver ornaments, with a
necklace of flowers round his neck and a red tika on his
forehead. He is usually fed with ghi and sweetmeats
before commencing. He is called the hathi or elephant.
He throws the bits of cane into the furrow immediately
behind the second plough, at intervals of about a foot.
Behind the elephant comes a second man, called the
kawa or crow, who picks up the bits that have not
fallen into the furrow, and puts them in properly ; and
occasionally the gudha or donkey, a third man, accom-
panies^ the elephant, carrying a basket of cuttings, which
he supplies as needed.

Sugar-cane, in the North- Western Provinces, suffers at
times from the attacks of caterpillars, one of them, called
' kanswa ' in the Meerut district, attacking the young
shoots, and another, the ' silai,' the full-grown plants.
The most serious injury to cane grown on low lands
results from being flooded in the rainy season. It is a
costly plant to grow, occupying the ground for many
months, requiring a rich soil, abundant manure, and
careful irrigation. The Animal Parasites of the Sugar-
cane, by H. Ling Eotli (London, Trlibner & Co., 1885),

102 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

says a species of Hoplosternus is the common chafer of
Queensland. Its grub destroys the roots of the sugar-
cane, causing the leaves to become brown and dry up ;
the growth of the cane is thus arrested, and the first high
wind knocks its over. In this manner whole fields of
cane are killed. In the early stage, the larvae are
occupied in gnawing the root. In November and December,
the chafers, fully developed, appear above ground in
swarms, remaining inactive during the day, but feeding
eagerly at night. An ant, the Formica saccharivora, is
supposed to get at the sweet juices of this plant. The
waxy sugar-cane louse, known to the Mauritius and
Bourbon planters as Le pou a poche blanche, is the
Icerya sacchari. It occurs in Queensland, and Mr. Eoth
supposes that it is milked by a small black ant, Formica
rufoiiigra, in the same manner as species of Aphides are
milked by other ants. He considers it to be a cause of
injury to the cane. The sugar-cane beetle of the United
States is the Ligyrus ruficeps, Le C. It is a stout black
beetle, half an inch long, which bores into the stalk of
the sugar-cane under ground. Sugar-cane ravages in
Grenada are caused by the cane spittle-fly, Delphax
saccharivora; in Natal, by the cane smut, Ustilago
sacchari, a disease analagous to the smut of wheat and
maize ; in the Mauritius, by the Proceras sacchariphagus,
which Mr. Westwood has supposed may be identical with
the Diatnea sacchari, Guilding, and Phalrena sacchari,
Fabricius. The * borer ' of the Queensland cane has been
supposed to be the larva of this Diatmea sacchari. It
enters the cane above ground, and eats up the heart. It
is believed to be identical with the borer of the Mauritius,
the Proceras sacchariphagus.

The wire-worm, larvte of the click-beetle, are to be

THE AGllICULTUHAL PESTS OF INDIA. 103

found at the roots of the Queensland cane, but no damage
from them has been detected. W. Bancroft, writing in
1878, says that he had with advantage sown the Dolichos
lablab and Cajanus Indicus amongst and around sugar-
cane fields to attract the ichneumon flies which destroyed
the louse. — D. tC§ F. — Vcrn. Iklit Ghanna.

Salamandra maculata, the terrestrial salamander, secretes
a poisonous milky fluid. The aqueous salamander is
Triton cristatus.

Sand-fly, a pest of Kurdistan, a serious torment, pene-
trating through everything, and preventing sleep. — Rich.

Saperda, sp., a longicorn beetle, found in the forests of
the North- Western Provinces. — R. T.

Sarcoptidse, a family of the Arachnoidea, comprising the
itch and louse mites in the genera Sarcoptes, Psoroptes,
Symbiotes, Myobia, Listiophorus, Myocoptes, Dermalei-
chus, and Demodex. They infest the smaller mammals.

The itch insect, Sarcoptes scabiei, is extremely minute,
so that it is only just visible to the naked eye ; it is
•012 of an inch in length, and '009 of an inch in breadth.
They can tunnel their way with considerable speed. M.
Bourguignon considers that one of these insects could
travel from the hand to the shoulder in less than ten
minutes. Other species occur in the lower animals,
but most animals have their own peculiar parasites, and
species can be transferred. Sulphur, petroleum, kerosene,
and copaiva kill them.

Saw-flies. — See Tenthredo.

Schizodactylus monstrosus, Westwood. A leviathan mole-
cricket, which abounds in Monghir indigo fields. It is
called jhengur in Hindi.

Sclerostoma syngamus are worms which lodge in the
trachea of fowls, and cause the gapes.

104 THE AGKICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Scolopendridae. Myriapods or Centipedes occur in India
1 0 inches long. Mecistocephalus punctifrons is a species
of the East Indies. Scolopendra Ceylonensis is of that
island ; Sc. tuberculidens is of the East Indies ; Sc. cceru-
lio-viridis is of Australia, as also is Cremata Smithii.
Geophelus Cummingii occurs in the Philippines. — M. T.

Scolytus, a genus of the Xylophagi.

Scorpions. The true scorpions belong to the sub-family
Scorpiones, one of the Arachnoidea, and include the
Buthus afer, B. Cassar of the East Indies, and B. imper-
ator (locality doubtful). Androctonus priamus occurs in
Java, and species of Androctonus in Rangoon and other
parts of the East Indies. With the scorpion when about
to strike, an exceedingly minute drop of the poison is
seen to exude at the extremity of the spine, the discharge
taking place before this is introduced into the flesh of the
victim ; but the secretion becomes more abundant when
the point meets with the resisting body (Blancliard}. The
poison is expelled by the contraction of the surrounding
muscular fibres. — M. T.

Scorpion beetle, Anthia sexguttata.

Sesamum Indicum, Linn. The til in the North- Western
Provinces is liable to damage from ill-timed rain. — Vern.
Til— I). & F.

Setaria italica, Bcaur, is sown at the commencement
of the rains, and reaped in September. Great loss is
sustained by the depredations of birds. — Vern. Kangni. —
D. & F.

Silk is produced by several genera of the Bombycida3,
called silk-worms. Silk-worms are liable to several
diseases. Luisettes are worms which have not strength
to moult. They should be early removed, as they die
and infect the room. Arpians have exhausted all their

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 105

strength in the last moult, and have not even strength
to eat.

Yellow or flat worms easily die. The flat or mous are
soft and indolent worms, become very fat from eating a
great deal, and soon die and become putrid.

The most severe disease, as the most general, is the
muscadine. A worm may be eating as usual, when
suddenly it becomes a dull white, and not long after dies,
becoming reddish and rigid. Twenty-four hours after
death a white efflorescence shows itself round the head
and rings, and soon after all the body becomes floury.
This flour is a fungus, the Botrytis bassiana, of which the
mycelium develops itself in the fatty tissue of the cater-
pillar, attacks the intestines, and fructifies in the exterior.
Some suppose this disease to be contagious.

The Gattine ailment is an epidemic disease which
shows itself from the very beginning of the rearing. The
losses it occasions in Europe are very great. The
domesticated silk-worms in India are greatly diseased.

Sitona. A beetle which attacks the stored poppy
seed, rice, maize, wheat, barley, and the millets. It is
one of the most destructive of the many kinds of insects
which affect the granaries of India ; it is about an eighth
of an inch long, of a pale chestnut brown colour. The
larva forms and perfect forms are alike destructive.—
J. Scott.

Sitophilus oryzae, the common rice-weevil of India.

Snakes, in natural history, are placed in the class
Keptilia, and order Ophidia. They are numerous in the
East Indies arid in the Eastern seas. All the sea-
snakes are poisonous, and dreaded by fishermen. They
are classed by naturalists as .the Hydrophidse, and com-
prise the genera Acalyptus, Aipysurus, Disteria, Enhydrina,

106 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Hydrophis, Pelamis, and Platurus. The land snakes are
greatly the more numerous, but there are not many of them
poisonous, — genera Bungarus, Callophis, Daboia, Megrer-
ophis, Naja, Ophiophagus, and Xenurelaps. In India, in
1884-85, 19,629 persons and 1728 cattle died from
snake-bites, and Government gave Bs. 28,551 in rewards
for killing 380,981 poisonous snakes. These rewards
are the only means had recourse to by the British Indian
Government to destroy snakes. But the people might be
encouraged to keep fowls, and particularly the guinea-fowl,
to destroy the eggs and young snakes. Snake-birds and
the mongoose are their natural enemies. Earth, the ligature,
and the knife are the means always at hand to remedy
the bites of venomous snakes. Some of the pythons of
India are 16 to 24 feet long. Snakes are said to avoid
the fennel plant, Nigella sativa, as well as all places
strewed with fennel seed.

Solpurgidae, a family of the class Arachnoidea. Galeodes
araneoides, one of this family, is a great spider of the
Central Asia steppes. It moves abroad at night, to seize
and eat all weaker creatures, as lizards, bats, and musk
rats. Galeodes fatalis has been known to kill a sparrow,
and they even eat their own species. Thirty to thirty-
five of this genus are known to naturalists.

Sorghum vulgare, Pers.t is the cholum or juari of India.
The most peculiar of the diseases to which it is liable is
that which makes the young stalks poisonous to cattle, if
eaten by them when semi-parched from want of rain.
Of the fact there can be no doubt ; in the scarcity of
1877 large numbers of cattle were known to perish from
this cause, their bodies becoming inflated after a meal of
the young ji.uir plants, and death ensuing shortly after-
wards, apparently in severe pain. A good explanation

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 107

is not, however, forthcoming. The opinion universally
accepted by natives is, that young juar when suffering
from deficiency of rain becomes infested with an insect
called ' bhaunri,' to which its poisonous effect on cattle
is due. Immediately rain falls the insect is said to
perish, and unless the ears have appeared before the rain
failed, the crop often recovers itself and yields a good
out-turn of grain. Juar is peculiarly liable to a species
of bunt (Tilletia), a parasitic fungus well known in
English corn-fields, which converts the whole contents of
grains, externally apparently perfectly healthy, into a foul,
greasy, dark-coloured powder. But birds and squirrels
are probably the worst enemies the cultivator has to
contend with, and their depredations necessitate the crops
being watched for at least twenty-five days before it is
cut, which adds, of course, to the cost of cultivation. —
J. F. D. ; W. B. F.

SphaBnophorus planipennis, weevil of Ceylon, attacks the
palms.

Spiders. — See Araneidic.

Squirrel. — See Mammalia.

Starling, The rose-coloured starling, Pastor roseus,
Linn., is a famous locust killer, but their flocks commit
immense depredations on the white sorghum and the
mulberry. The pied starling is Sturnopastor contra.

Sternocera chrysis, the rose beetle.

Stomoxys calcitrans has a hard, sharp-pointed proboscis,
which pierces thick knickerbocker stockings, and inflicts
a sharp sting. — Capt. St. John.

Strongylus filaria is a small round thread- worm of a
yellowish-white colour, from 1 to 2j inches long. They
are found in the air passages and lung tissue of lambs
and young sheep, and cause the serious and destructive

108 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

' lamb disease.' Another species of a similar appearance,
the Strongylus inicrurus, is the cause of the disease in
calves and young cattle termed ' hoose ' or ' husk/ from the
animal suffering from them being subject to violent and
convulsive fits of coughing. It is often fatal to calves.
The pig is also infested with a similar worm, which is
named Strongylus suis. A fourth species, the Strongylus
contortus, is a habitant of the fourth stomach of the sheep
and goat, and is the cause of the disease termed ' parasitic
gastric f catarrh.' A fifth species, Strongylus armatus,
affects the horse's stomach. It is now believed that the
ova of these parasites, after passing from the body of
their host, retain their vitality in damp places only, and
that nice bites of green grass, such as that growing on the
sides of open drains, and damp spots on pastures other-
wise dry, are sources of danger, as the parasitic ova infest
such grasses. — The India Agriculturist. — See Helminths.
Sugar, unclarified, or gur. Gur is an article of general
consumption. There is perhaps no article of food which
is so profitable to the storer, but at the same time the
storage is accompanied by great risks. There is great
danger from wasps and hornets, and heat causes the gur
to melt. To guard against these dangers, the gur is
buried in bhusa (bran). Each pari (a large cake, average
one and a half maunds weight) is placed in the sun, cut
in two and dried, and again cut and dried, so that each
pari is made into four pieces. These pieces are laid in a
store-room on narkul matting spread over a layer of
bhusa. The pieces are kept a little apart. Over them
is thrown bhusa, and the sides closed in with tat. Some-
times a large sheet of coarse cloth (chandni) is used to
cover the heap.

THE AGRICULTUEAL PESTS OF INDIA. 109

Tacua speciosa, a native of Java, one of the Cicadidas,
is black, and 3 inches in length. — See Cicadidse.

Taenia solium, Linn. This species, which is familiarly
known as the solitary or tape worm, is a very common
entozoon. There are several species. — See Helminths.

Tarantula spiders are popularly believed to be exceed-
ingly poisonous. These animals belong to the genus
Lycosa of Latreille ; they are characterized by having the
eyes arranged in an elongated quadrilateral form. There
are several species.

Tea-bug or mosquito blight of Assam is the Helopeltis
theiovora. Other species of this genus are H. nigra and
H, braconiformis of New Guinea and Waigiou ; H.
pellucida and H. collaris of the Philippines ; H. podagrica,
of some unascertained habitat. H. Antonii attacks the
cacao plants in Ceylon; H. Bradyi does much mischief
to the cinchona plantations in Java ; and another species
(not yet described) injures the tea plants also in Java.

The Tea-mite or red spider of Assam planters is the
Tetranychus bioculatus.

Mr. Wood-Mason, writing in 1884, remarks that 'of
the numerous animals which prey upon the tea plant,
two only are at present known to do such injury to it as
materially to diminish the profits of owners of tea estates ;
these are the Tea-Bug or " Mosquito Blight," and the
Tea-Mite or " Eed Spider " of planters.' The former
damages the young and tender shoots required for manu-
facture into tea, and thus causes direct loss to the planter ;
while the latter confines its ravages to the full-grown

110 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

leaves, and by so injuring these organs as to unfit them
for the performance of their important functions, checks
the growth of green shoots, prevents the bushes from
flushing, and thus inflicts upon him indirect loss. Both
the mite and the bug pass their whole lives on the tea
plant, and neither has been met with on any other plant.
Yet the tea-bug, known as the mosquito blight, has been
supposed to find shelter in the toon trees, planted along
the roads of the tea-gardens. Wherever there are toon
trees, the mosquito blight is said to prevail ; and the most
severely attacked tea bushes are said to be those near the
toon (Cedrela toona).

Mr. K. Thompson mentions that a beetle deposits eggs
into the main stem of the tea plant at the root, and the
larva, so soon as hatched, bores into the pith and then
works up or down, the tunnel being of a size to ultimately
kill the plant. The larva undergoes the pupa change in
the tunnel near the root.

A tea blight caused by the attacks of acari on the tea
plants, as also of other wingless insects, is said to be
prevented by planting hemp (Cannabis sativa). — R. T.

Tenthredo. The saw-flies and their caterpillars never
attack wood, but live entirely on leaves, though the
perfect insects are known to lay their eggs in the bark
of trees. — E. T.

Termites, or white ants, species of the insect family
Terrnitidce, do enormous mischief. Their attacks are
indiscriminate on all wooden, woollen, cotton, or paper
articles ; rarely growing plants, though the sugar-cane is
often injured by them ; and as they form galleries in their
destructive advances, their ravages are often undiscovered,
however much they may be watched. The queen will
lay 80,000 eggs in a day, for a long time. Many

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. Ill

valuable buildings in which wood forms a part are
damaged by them. Teak-wood is not attacked. Their
nests are raised about 3 or 4 feet in height above ground,
brought up from below as they form the galleries. These
nests largely harbour the poisonous cobra, and are sites
for the serpent-worship of the Hindoos.

Tetranichidse, the spinning mites, a section of the class
Arachnoidea. Its genus Tetranychus has many species,
and one of them, T. papaverge, the poppy seed mite, is an
enemy of the poppy. T. telarius is the red spider.
Tetranychus papavene, one of the Trornbidina, attacks in
swarms the poppy seed in the granaries and store
pots, reducing it to chaff and dust, and their excreta
glueing the seed together in pellets more or less bulky.
It looks like a minute spider, being not more than a line in
length, shining, and of a rich claret colour. It multiplies
with great rapidity. A little powdered camphor sprinkled
among the store pots is an effectual preventive of this
pest, which, with species of Bruchus, Calandra, Sitona, and
Tipula, are the chief depredators on the poppy seed store
pots in Lower Bengal. Tetranychus bioculatus is the
tea-mite or red spider of Assam planters. — J. Scott. — See
Tea-bug.

Thrips adonidum, a small hemipterous insect, which, like
other members of this order, is provided with a beak or
rostrum specially adapted for piercing and sucking and
feeding on the juices of the leaves and softer parts of
plants. It punctures and destroys the whole surface of
the poppy leaf. It is one of the many kinds of minute
insects which the natives of Northern India called Lhi.
Their black glutinous excreta, voided on the leaf of the
poppy, suppress respiration, and the whole leaf dries up
and withers. It destroys the seed produce of the poppy,

112 THE AGJUCULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

but in no way impairs the returns of opium extract. It
is more abundant in hot, dry seasons. — J. Scott.

Thypa eucharis attacks the Calotropis gigantea.

Tineidse. A group of Micro-Lepidoptera, comprising a
large number of species. Some of them feed upon vege-
table substances ; some live in the stalks of plants, corn,
etc. ; others mine the surface of the leaves, or live
between the surfaces of leaves. Many of the species
form galleries or moveable cases out of the materials
upon which they feed. Some species feed on feathers,
hair, or dry animal matter. The clothes moths belong-
to this family. Some species of Galleria live in bees*
nests, and occasionally do much mischief.

Tipula. Species of tipula are known as the crane-fly or
daddy long-legs. The larvae hatched from their eggs
feed on the tender rootlets of grass and other herbage,
and also attack young plants. They often do an immense
amount of mischief, laying bare large patches of meadow,
and destroying great quantities of young corn. The
caterpillar of one Bengal species, in 1878, was a very
serious enemy of the young poppy, eating it off during
the night. It is three-quarters of an inch long, appearing
in December to the middle of January, when they bury
themselves in the soil and change to pupre, the perfect
insect appearing in February and March. Nothing but
hand-picking was found of use. The head of the larva
is black and horny, with keenly incisive jaws, the
body colour varies from clayey-brown to greyish-black,
Tipula Iarva3 do much injury to the stored poppy seed,
but can be prevented by sprinkling powdered camphor
in the pots and granaries. — R. T. ; J. S.

Tomici. The species of the genera Hylesinus, Scolytus,
and Tomicus are small beetles, but numerous and common.

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 113

Tomici chiefly affect bamboos., and are very destructive
to them. The Hylesini also attack the bamboo, but not
so vigorously as their smaller brethren the Tomici, and
both are detected by the powdery excremented matter
which they and their larvae throw out. One small
species of Hylesinus in great numbers attacks the dead
wood of the cheer pine, and when hatched underneath
the bark, they bore in all directions, the tendency, how-
ever, being to reach the centre of the log. They do not
attack living trees, nor logs that have had their bark
stripped off. Tomicus perforans, monographus, in 1860,
attacked the beer barrels in the commissariat stores of
Burma and Lower Bengal, and the contents oozed
out from a multitude of pores, causing great loss. The
soldiers gave the insect an apt name — they called it
Tippling Tommy. Tomici greatly affect bamboos. — 72. T.

Trap-door spiders comprise species of the genera Atypus,
Cteniza, Mygale, of the tribe Mygalidae and order Aran-
eidse.

Trichina spiralis, Owen, a nematoid parasite, has its
seat in the muscular system of the human race. They
may exist in such numbers as to defy enumeration, yet
their presence does not seem in the least to impair the
functions of the part in which they are embedded ; and
similarly, as mentioned by Professor Williams, sheep
have been killed in prime condition by the butcher, and
their lungs found loaded with filaria. A female may
have 10,000 to 15,000 embryo. They have not yet
been detected in India. — /. S. of Arts, 14, 2lst July 1871.

Triticum sativum, Linn. Wheat. Indian, like English
wheat, suffers from the attacks of microscopic fungi, but
not to the same extent, owing doubtless to the greater
dryness of the climate. There is, however, a consider-

H

114 THE AGKICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

able difference in this respect between one locality and
another. In the Meerut and Eohilkhand Divisions, where
winter rains are of regular occurrence, and dense mists often
prevail in December and January, it would be difficult to
find a wheat-field in which some plants were not attacked
by rust, and occasionally considerable damage is suffered
from it ; while in the centre and south of the North-
Western Provinces it often requires a considerable amount
of searching in order to discover such specimens. The
commonest of the fungus disease to which wheat is
liable is the one known as 'rattua' or 'girwi,' which
appears to be identical with the English mildew or rust.
The plant tissues become filled with minute orange-
coloured spores, which when ripe burst through the
plant skin in longitudinal fissures, sprinkling the leaves
and ears with a reddish powder. In this condition it is
known to botanists under the generic name of Trichobasis,
from the fact that each spore is furnished with a short
hair - like protrusion or stalk. As the plant ripens,
clusters of minute bodies appear, each consisting of a
stalk fixed in the leaf tissues, bearing a double-celled
head. These bodies grow out in clusters, each cluster
appearing to the naked eye a minute black spot. In this
stage the fungus is known as Puccinia, and was long
supposed to be a separate plant from the Trichobasis,
instead of merely a stage in its history.

When ears of wheat are distorted and thickly covered
with a dark brown or black dust, the .plant is infected
with the disease known to English farmers as ' smut '
(Ustilago), and to natives as ' kandwa.' The dust is
composed of very minute globular spores far smaller
than those of Trichobasis, but resembling them in being
single celled. Bust does not necessarily altogether

THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 115

destroy the produce, although it almost invariably de-
teriorates it ; but nothing survives the attacks of smut.
The name 'kandwa' is applied to a totally distinct
disease in the case of the millets, when it denotes the
fungus known as ' bunt ' or ' ergot ' in England, which
fills the grain with a greasy black powder, leaving the
plant, and indeed the grain itself, externally perfectly
healthy looking. Bunt does not appear to be so common
in wheat in Hindustan as in England.

The disease known as ' lakhua ' (Polycystis) consists of
spores which fill the plant tissues, and break out when
ripe in longitudinal fissures exactly like rust, from which,
however, it differs, in each spore being a spherical
agglomeration of numerous cells (somewhat resembling
a blackberry in shape), instead of being unicellular.
Lakhua is said altogether to prevent a plant from bearing
ears.

But by far the most extraordinary disease to which
wheat is liable is that known as ' sehwan,' in which the
young wheat grains are found to be filled with minute
worms in various stages of development, comparatively
large sized (apparently), males and females being asso-
ciated with a mass of oval-shaped eggs, from which
smaller and less highly organized worms emerge. As the
grain ripens at harvest-time, these worms will be found
to have completely filled the grain, having entirely
ousted (and possibly eaten) the males, females, and egg-
cases to which they owe their origin. The grain is
much shrivelled, and of a dark colour, and can be easily
recognised as infected. The most extraordinary fact
connected with this disease is, however, that the worms
can retain their vitality for a very long time, although
unprovided with any source of nutriment; and if an

116 THE AGRICULTUBAL PESTS OF INDIA.

infected grain is examined a year after harvest, they will
be found matted together in an entangled mass, appar-
ently torpid, but showing no signs of death or decay.
This would seem to indicate that their life in the wheat
grain is only one chapter of their history.

The worms have since been identified as belonging to
the order Nematoidea, and are apparently of the genus
Tylenchus. They issue from the infected grain when
sown, and attack the growing corn, gaining admission
into the flowers, when as yet undeveloped, preventing the
development of the grain, and producing in its place a
green gall (mistaken for the grain above) in which they
reside.-1 — Vern. Gandum, Gfehun. — D. & F.

Trombidiidae. Species of this section attack in swarms
the poppy seed in the granaries and store pots, reducing
it to chaff and dust, and their excreta gluing the seed
together in pellets more or less bulky. It looks like a
minute spider, being not more than a line in length,
shiny, and of a rich claret colour. It multiplies with
great rapidity. A little powdered camphor sprinkled
among the store pots is an effectual preventive. — J. Scott.
— See Acarina, Tetranichidre.

Uredo segetum, a parasitic fungus, known as ' smut.'
Ustilago sacchari, sugar - cane smut, of Natal, an
analagous disease to the smut of wheat and maize.

VespidsB. The family of hymenopterous insects com-
monly known as wasps. The principal genera are Vespa,

THE AGKICULTUKAL PESTS OF INDIA. 117

Polistes, Polybia. An Indian hornet (Vespa crabroni-
formis) builds a nest of great size. One of India's boldest
birds, the myna, flees before the hornet's threatened
attacks. The Formica smaragdina, an ant of all India, is
said to drive off the wasps.

w

Wasp. — See Vespidas.
Weevil. — See Curculionida?.
White Ants. — See Termites.
Wood-borer. — See Borer.

Xylocopa, or carpenter bees, bore tunnels in timber,
where they collect honey and the farina of flowers,
leaving a lump of the compound in a divided cell for
the nourishment of the young larva when it is hatched.
Each cell has, with the egg, a separate supply of food.
The larvse are sub - cylindrical, whitish worms. They
undergo the pupa state within their respective cells,
and come out the perfect bee after a brief period.
The largest species is X. purpurea, the bhoura; it is a
strong-flighted, active insect, very destructive to the wood
of buildings, and also to the dead wood of forest trees.
One of them, at the Kurnool hospital, was seen to strike
a sparrow dead.

Xylophagi. A group of Ehynchophorus Coleoptera,
containing a large number of wood-boring species. The
principal genera are Tomicus, Hylesinus, Scolytus, and
Platypus.

118 THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA.

Xylotrechus. — See Coffee-borer.

Xylotrupes gideon attacks the cocoa - nut trees in
Malacca.

Zea mays, Linn., in the North- Western Provinces is
singularly free from disease of any kind, and the only insect
from which it suffers is a small caterpillar, called ' salai '
or ' silai,' which burrows in the stalk and leaf-sheaths.
On the other hand, it is more liable than any other crop
to the depredations of parrots, squirrels, wild hog, jackals,
porcupines, and thieves; and at least for a fortnight
before harvest - time some member of the cultivator's
family has to watch the crop from a tall platform
in the centre of the field, armed with a sling or catapult
or thong, and shouting to scare the marauders. Maize is
a very exhausting crop. — D. & F. — Vern. Muka juari.

Zeuzeridae, a family of moths. Their caterpillars feed
in the wood of the inside of the trunks of trees. — See
Coffee.

INDEX.

ABLAQ MYNA, Hind., Sturnopastor
contra, v. Caterpillars, Starling.

Acarus coffeae, an enemy of the
coffee plant of Ceylon, v. Coffee.

Acarus telarius, syn. of Gamasus
telarius, q.v.

Actinopus, genus of Mygalidse, v.
Araneidse.

Adolia, sp., v. Caterpillars.

Alligators, v. Crocodiles.

Aloa lactinea, Cram., one of the
Lepidoptera of Ceylon ; it injures
the coffee plant, v. Coffee.

Alopecia, v. Fungi.

Ancylonicha, sp., White grub, v.
Coffee, Melolonthidse.

Ancylostomum duodinale, a worm of
the order Nematoda, v. Helminths.

Anomala elata, its grub injures the
coffee plant in Ceylon, v. Coffee,
Coleoptera.

Anthomyza coffeae, v. Coffee.

Anthophora, a genus of the Apidse,
q.v.

Anthrax, v. Mammals.

Ant lion, v. Myrmeleon.

Apathus, a genus of the Apidse, q.v.

Arachnoidea, v. Araneidse.

Arachnothera, v. Araneidse.

Araeoceius coffese, a beetle of the
family Anthribidae, order Coleo-
ptera. It does much injury to
many seeds, including coffee beans.
It is cosmopolitan, v. Coffee, Coleo-
ptera.

Arceuthobium oxycedri, v. Parasites.

Arctia, v. Gossypium, Alope.

Aregma, necklace brand poppy dis-
ease, v. Poppy.

Aromatic herbs are protective, v. p. 18.

Ascaris. Intestinal worm of the
order Nematoda, v. Helminths.

Atypus, trap-door spider, genus of
Mygale, v. Araneidae, Trap -door
Spiders.

BAGULIA, Hind.', Puccinia, sp., v.

Penicillaria.
Bahadura, Hind., caterpillar ravages

Cicer arietinum, q.v., also Pisum

arvense.
Balistes, a genus of poisonous fish,

v. Fish.

Barley, Hordeum vulgare, q.v.
Bean-beetle, Bruchus granarius, v.

Bruchus.
Bhooa or Buro-Bhoo, Hind. , a species

of Bombyx, v. p. 31.
Bhoura, Xylocopa, sp., q.v.
Bhudoweah, Hind., insect, v. Poppy.
Blabera, sp., Cockroach, q.v.
Black bug, Lecanium iiigrum, v.

Bug, Coffee.

Black grub, Agrotis segetum, q.v.
Black -leg, v. Mammals.
Black rot, Pellicularia, sp., q.v.
Blatta orientalis, Cockroach, q.v.
Blue-bottle fly, v. Flies, Muscidae.
Boarmia, sp., v. Caterpillars, Coffee.
Boat-fly, Notonecta glauca, v. Bug.
Boletus, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Bombus, a genus of the Apidse, q.v.
Bothriocephalus latus, a helminth of

the order Cestoda, v. Helminths.
Botrytis, a fungus, v. Fungi, Silk.
Broom-rapes, a poppy disease, v.

Poppy.

Buffaloes injured by a Bombyx, q.v.
Bug of Miana, Argas Persicus, v.

Argades.

120

INDEX.

Bunt, Tilletia, sp., v. Fungi.
Burying beetles, v. Coleoptera.

CABBAGE, the top bud of palm trees,

betel, cocoa-nut, palmyra, etc., v.

Cocoa-nut Palm.
Casrenia, the poisonous principle of

Phyrostigma venenosum bean, v.

Deiopeia pulchella.
Calliphora vornitoria, Blue -fly, v.

Flies.
Camarimina vaiiabile. Its grub

injures the coffee plant in Ceylon,

v. Coffee.
Camphor powder protects stored

seeds, v. Tetranichidse.
Capundium, v. Fungi.
Carabidre. the ground beetle family

of the Coleoptera ; nearly all the

species are carnivorous and bene-
ficial, v. Coleoptera.
Caranx fallax, a poisonous fish, v.

Fish.
Carp of Himalaya, poisonous, v.

Fish.
Carpenter bee, Xylocopa, sp., q.r.,

also Hymenoptera.
Cassida, sp., attacks the cold season

crops of Northern India, v. Cold

Season.
Castor-oil plant, food of Achsea meli-

certe and Bombyx, sp., v. Ricinus

communis.
Casuarina trees, injured by Aclieta

and Ceriosterna, q.v.
Cattle killed by swallowing a small

Bombyx, on castor-oil leaves, v.

Bombyx.

Cattle murrains, v. Mammals.
Census of 1881, v. p. 11.
Centipedes, Scolopendridre, q.v.
Cerambycidae, v. Coleoptera.
Cetoniidse, rose beetles, a family of

the Coleoptera, q.v.
Chsetomiuin, v. Fungi.
Chafer, v. Hoplosternus, Lachno-

sterna, Melolonthon.
Charras, Hind., resin of Cannabis

sativa, q.v.
Cheer pine, Pinus longifolia, v.

Buprestis, Cheer Pine.
Chinch bug, its ravages, v. p. 15.
Chinese gall, v. Aphidse.
Chionyphe, Madura foot, v. Fungi.
Cholum, Tarn., Sorghum vulgnre,
q.v.

ChrysomelMse, a family of the Coleo-
ptera. The larvae of these insects
are chiefly injurious to the leaves
of plants, v. Coleoptera, Gossypium.

Cicendelidae, tiger beetles, a family
of the Coleoptera ; nearly all the
species are carnivorous and bene-
ficial, v. Bug, Coleoptera.

Cimex lectularius, Bed bug, v. Bug.

Cimicidse, v. Bug.

Cladosporium, poppy disease, v.
Poppy.

Clarias magur, v. Fish.

Clasterisporum, v. Fungi.

Claviceps, a fungus, v. Fungi.

Click beetles, Elateridse, q.v., also
Coleoptera.

Clinteria chloronata, a rose beetle,
one of the Cetoniidre, a family of
the Coleoptera. It does much
injury to coffee trees, the grub eat-
ing the roots, and the beetles the
blossoms, v. Coffee, Coleoptera.

Cocculus acuminatus, food of a Bom-
byx, q.v.

Cochin grub, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, q.v.

Coffee-leaf rot, Pellicularia, q.v.

Coffee rat, GolundaEllioti, v. Coffee.

Coffee rot, v. Capnodium, q.v.

Coffee trees are much injured by the
four beetles, Lachnosterna pinguis,
Leucopholis pinguis, Anomola elata,
and Mimela xanthorrhina, v.
Coffee.

Cordia myxa in Kamaon ; its fruit
stones sucked by a large red bug,
v. Bug.

Coreidae, family of the Heteroptera,
v. Bug.

Corn blight in Russia, v. p. 14.

Corn weevils, Sitophilus granarius
and S. orizse, q.v.

Cotton enemies, Ciccadella, sp.,
Depressaria, sp., q.r.

Cotton grown with hemp inter-
spersed is protected from Aphis
lanigera, v. Aphidse.

Crab-spiders, Mygale, sp., v. Aran-

eidse.

Crane-fly, Tipula, sp., q.v.
Crops, protection of, by cleanly cul-
tivation, rotation, insectivorous
insects, birds, and mammals ; by
rearing plants with protecting
qualities, use of fires, traps, nets,
water, v. p. 16.

INDEX.

121

Cteniza, genus of Mygalidje, trap-
door spider, v. Araneidae.

Cumbly poochie, Tarn., v. Alope.

Curculio attack cocoa-nut trees, v.
Cocoa-nut Palm.

Curculionidse. The larvae of the
Buprestidae and Elateridse feed on
living wood, v. Coleoptera.

Curuminga beetle, Batocera ruber,
q.v.

Cyanea, v. Actinia.

Cysticercus cellulosa, larva of Tsenia
communis ; C. acanthotrocus,
larva of Tsenia acanthotrias, v.
Helminths.

DABREE TREE of Kamaon, host of an
aphis. v. Aphidae.

Dactylium roseum, thread-mould
poppy disease, a creeping my-
celium, v. Poppy.

Dadap tree, Erythrina Indica, q.v.

Daddy long-legs, Tipula, sp., q.v.

Danais chrysippus. It is largely
mimicked, v. Butterflies.

Death - watch, Anobium, v. Book-
worm.

Demodex, v. Sarcoptidse.

Dermaleichus, v. Sarcoptidae.

Dimya, v. Ants.

Diodou tigrina, a poisonous fish, v.
Fish.

Diplodia, v. Fungi.

Diplosis tritici, American wheat
midge, v. p. 15.

Distoma, genus of helminths, of the
order Trematoda, v. Helminths.

Distylium racemosum, v. Aphidse.

Dothidea, v. Fungi.

Dragon flies, v. Culex, Flies.

Drepana, sp., v. Caterpillars, Coffee.

Dysgoniidae, a moth family, v.
Achaea.

Dyticidae, the water-beetle family of
the Coleoptera ; they are carnivor-
ous, v. Coleoptera.

ECHINOCOCCUS HOMINIS, larva of
Tsenia dentalis, v. Helminths.

Echinococcus veterinorum, larva of
Tienia echinococcus, v. Mammals.

Englossa, genus of the Apidae, q.v.

Ephemeridae, v. Flies.

Epizootic aphtha, v. Foot-and-mouth
disease, Mammals.

Ergot, v. Fungi, Triticum.

Euchirus, v. Palm trees, Lamelli-

cornes.
Eupithecia coffearia, v. Caterpillars,

Coffee.
Euproctis viguncula, Walker, one of

the Lepidoptera, attacks the coffee

plant in Ceylon, v. Caterpillars.
Eurotium, v. Fungi.

FAVUS, v. Fungi.

Festucaria lentis, a helminth of the
order Trematoda, v. Helminths.

Fish-insect, Lepisma, sp., v. Book-
worm.

Fly, v. Cecidomyia.

Foot-and-mouth disease, or Aphtha
epizootica, v. Mammals.

Forest enemies, v. Batocera, Bruchus
Bug, Buprestis, Coleoptera, Cap-
nodium mangiferum, Ceriosterna
gladiator.

Formica, v. Ants, Aphidae, Honey-
dew, Icerya, Saccharum, Ves-
pidae.

Frost ruins growing Cajanus Indicus
and Cicer arietinum, q.v.

GALEOPITHECUS VOLANS, Flying

lemur, v. Flying Fox.
Galleriomorpha lichenoides, Feld.,

v. Coffee.

Gall-insect, v. Cynips, Hymenoptera.
Galls, v. Aphidae.
Gamasidae, v. Acarina.
Gandiki, v. Rice.

Ganja, flower head of Cannabis, q.v.
Gapes, v. Sclerostoma syngamus.
Gavialidae, v. Crocodiles.
Geocores, family of Hemiptera, v.

Cimicidae, Bug.
Girwi fungus, v. Triticum.
Glenospora, v. Fungi.
Gnat, v. Culex.

Goats injured by a Bombyx, q.v.
Gobius criniger, Bay of Bengal,

poisonous, v. Fish.
Goorgooria, Hind., Gryllotalpa

vulgaris, q.v.
Green fly, v. Rice.
Grub, v. Agrotis segetum.
Gudarlah insect, v. Poppy.
Gur, v. Sugar.

HALACABIDJE, v. Acarina.
Halictus, genus of the Apidae, r.v.

122

INDEX.

Haltica, a species attacks the cold

season crops of Northern India,

v. Cold Season.
Harpegnathus saltator, syn. of

Drepanognathus saltator, q.v.
Heliocopris, a genus of the Scara-

baeidse, v. Coleoptera.
Hemileia vastatrix, v. Coffee, Ery-

thrina Indica, Fungi.
Hemp grown near cotton plants

protects from Aphis lanigera, v.

Aphidse.

Hendersonia, one of the Fungi, q.v.
Hessian fly, Cecidomyia tritici, q.v.
Heteroptera, v. Bug.
Histiophorus, v. Sarcoptidse.
Honey-dew, excrementitious deposit

on leaves from the Aphis lanigera,

v. Aphid se.
Hoose or husk, Strongylus micrurus,

v. Strongylus filaria.
Hop blight in England, v. p. 14, also

Aphidae.

Hoven, v. Mammals.
Humble bees, v. Apidse.
Hydnum, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Hydrachmdse, v. Acarina.
Hydrophidse, v. Snakes.
Hylesinus, v. Tomici, Xylophagi.
Hypoderidse, v. Acarina.
Hypopodse, v. Acarina.

ISAEIA, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Itch mites, v. Sarcoptidse.
Ixodidse, v. Acarina.

JELLY FISH, v. Medusa.

Jewriah insect, v. Poppy.

Jhengur, Hind., a species of Ache t a,

crickets, Gryllidre, g.v.,also Schizo-

dactylus.
Joorka, Hind., poppy sun-blight, v.

Poppy.

Juari, Hind., Sorghum vulgare, q.v.
Jureet, Hind., a poppy blight, v.

Poppy.

KADDYA, v. Ants.

Kallima inachis andK.paralecta, leaf-

butterflies, v. Butterflies.
Kandwa, Hind., a barley smut,

Ustilago, v. Hordeum vulgare,

Triticum.

Kangni; Hind., Set aria Italica, q.v.
Kanswa, Hind., v. Saccharum.
Kasari, Hind., Lathyrus sativus, q.v.

Kerosene, paraffine, petroleum, tai-
water, gas water, soot, are pro-
tective, v. p. 20.

Khapti, Hind., Mildew, v. Nicotiana.

Khumwa, Hind., Noctua segetum,
q.v.

Koda, Hind., Paspalum scrobicu-
latum, q.v.

Kole roga, Pellicularia, sp., q.v.

Koongnee, Hind., Aphis lanigera,
v. Aphid se.

LACEWINGS, v. Aphidse.

Lahai (Lye), Hind., a poppy blight,

v. Poppy.

Lakhua, Polycystis, v. Triticum.
Lamb disease, Strongylus filaria, q.v.
Lamiidse, v. Coleoptera.
Lancet fish, Acanthurus, sp., v. Fish.
Latrodectus, genus of the Theridiidse,

v. Araneidse.
Leaf-butterflies, species of Kallima,

v. Butterflies.
Leaf-cutters, v. Apidee.
Lecythea, yellow rust poppy disease,

v. Poppy.

Lentinus, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Leucopholis pinguis, insect grub,

attacks the coffee plant in Ceylon,

R.C.W., v. Coffee, Coleoptera.
Lhi, Hind., Thrips adonidum, q.v.
Libellulidse, Dragon flies, v. Flies.
Ligyrus, v. Saccharum.
Limacodes graciosa, West., syn. of

Neoera lepida, Cramer, q.v., also

Caterpillars, Coffee.
Locust, (Edipoda, sp., a species

attacks the cold season crops of

Northern India, E.T., v. Cold

Season, CEdipoda.
Louse mites, v. Sarcoptidse.
Lucilia Caesar, Golden fly, v. Flies.
Lycosidse, family of Arachnoidea, v,

Araneidse.

MADUKA FOOT, Chionyphe Carteri,

v. Fungi.
Marwa, Hind., Eleusine coracana,

q.v.
Mash, Hind., Phaseolus radiatus,

q.v.
Mealy bug, Pseudococcus adonidum,

q.v.

Medusa, v. Actinia.
Megachile, genus of the Apida?, q.v.
Melampsora, v. Rust.

INDEX.

123

Meletta venenosa and M. thryssa,
poisonous fish of Indian Ocean,
v. Fish.

Melipona, genus of the Apidae, q.v.
Meloe, v. Cantharidae.
Melolonthidae and Rutelidse, feed on
living vegetable matter, chiefly on
roots of grasses, shrubs, and trees,
often doing much mischief, v.
Beetles, Coleoptera.
Melophagus ovinus, Sheep tick, v.

Ixodes.

Merulius, a fungus, dry-rot, v. Fungi.
Midge, v. Culex.
Mildew, Puccinia, sp., v. Penicil-

laria.

Millet, Penicillaria, sp., q.v.
Mimela xanthorrhina, an insect giub
that attacks the coffee plant, v.
Coffee, Coleoptera.
Mimicry, v. Bombyx, Butterflies,

Caterpillars.
Mites, v. Acarina.

Mole cricket, Cylindrodes Campbelli,
Schizodactylus monstrosus, Grylli-
dse, q.v.
Moorka, Hind., a poppy sun-blight,

v. Poppy.

Mosquito, v. Culex.
Moth, v. Tineidae.
Moulds on poppy, Mucor mucedo,

Peronospora, v. Poppy.
Mucor mucedo, a poppy mould, v.

Poppy.
Munju vandu, Tarn., Leptocorisa

Bengalensis, q.v.
Musca meteorica, v. Flies.
Mushroom, v. Fungi.
Mustard, Brassica, sp., q.v.
Mycetoma, v. Fungi.
Mylabris, v. Cantharidae.
Mylitta, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Myna, Hind., Rose starling, v. (Edi-

poda.

Myobia, v. Sarcoptidse.
Myocoptes, v. Sarcoptidae.
Myriopods, Scolopendridse, q.v.

NAINI TAL WOODS, v. Lucanus.
Narosa conspersa, v. Caterpillars,

Coffee.

Necrophorus, v. Coleoptera.
Nematoda, an order of Helminths,

q.v.
Nemesia, genus of Mygalidse, v.

Araneidse.

Necera lepida, v. Caterpillars.
Nomad a, genus of the Apidae, q.v.
Notonecta glauca, Water bug, ?•»
Bug.

OCTOPUS, v. Mollusca.

Oo-shouk-po, v. Paraponyx oryzalis.

Oreinus, sp., a poisonous Himalaya
carp, v. Fish.

Orgyia Ceylanica, N., one of the
Lepidoptera of Ceylon, an enemy
of the coffee plant, v. Caterpillars.

Oribatidse, v. Acarina.

Oryctes rhinoceros, attacks cocoa-nut
trees, q.v., also Palm Trees.

Osmia, genus of the Apidae, q.v.

Ostracicn, a fish occasionally poison-
ous, v. Fish.

Ou-pey-tse, v. Aphid se.

Oxyurus, v. Helminths.

PALAN-BYOO, v. Paraponyx oryzalis.
Palms, cocoa-nuts, are destroyed by

Ursus Malayanus, Sciurus pal-

marum, the common rat, and

Paradoxurus typus, v. Mammals.
Palm weevils, Calandra and Rhyn-

chophorus, v. Coleoptera.
Panchlora, sp., Cockroach, q.v.
Pastor roseus, the starling, v. (Edi-

poda, Starling.
Pea, v. Pisum.
Pediculus, v. Lice.
Peridermium, a fungus, v. Rust.
Peronospora, poppy parasite disease,

v. Poppy.

Pestalozzia, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Pests, Losses from, v. p. 13.
Petechise, a poppy disease, v. Poppy.
Phalaena, v. Saccharum.
Phalaena nocfcua melicerte, syn. of

Achaea melicerte, q.v.
Phanga, Hind., a species of Gryllus,

v. Gryllidse.
Phelipea, Broom - rapes, poppy

parasite, v. Poppy.
Phoraspis, sp., Cockroach, q.v.
Phyrostigma venenosum, seed kern

eaten by Deiopeia pulchella, q.v.
Phytocoridae, family of the Hete

optera, v. Bug.
Phytoptidae, v. Acarina.
Pin-bo, v. Paraponyx oryzalis.
Pinus longifolia, attacked by a

Buprestis, q.v.
Pistacia, v. Aphidse.

124

INDEX.

Plant lice, Aphides, v. Aphid se.
Platycephalous fish inflict punctured

wounds, v. Fish.
Platypus, v. Xylophagi.
Pleuro-pneumonia, v. Mammals.
Plica polonica, v. Fungi.
Plotosus, sp., Malay seas, inflict

severe wounds, v. Fish.
Polistes, v. Vespidae.
Polyacanthus, v. Fish.
Polybia, v. Vespidae.
Polycystis, v. Triticum.
Polyporus, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Polyps, v. Actinia.
Porrigo, v. Fungi.
Portuguese man-of-war, Physalia, v.

Actinia.
Potato beetle, Doryphora decem-

lineatum, v. Doryphora.
Pou a poche blanche, Icerya

sacchari, q.v., also Saccharurn.
Prionidae, v. Coleoptera.
Prionus, sp., burrows in the pith

of the tea plant, v. Cerambyx,

Lucanidae.
Protection of man and domestic

animals, by snake-eating birds and

mammals, v. p. 17.
Protective insects, v. Aphidae.
Protective plants, leaves of the

margosa, Justicia gandarussa,

Nigella sativa, Camphor wood,

Camphor, Cannabis, v. Book-worm.
Psoroptes, v. Sarcoptidse.
Pterois fish, inflict punctured

wounds, v. Fish.
Pteromys, sp., Flying squirrel, v.

Flying Fox.

Pteropodidte, v. Flying Fox.
Puccinia, a fungus, v. Rust, Triti-
cum.

Pyrethrum plants, insect destroyers,
v. p. 18.

RADIATA, v. Medusa.

Rape, Brassica napus, v. Brassica

campestris.

Rattua fungus, v. Triticum.
Red beetle, sp. of Curculio, attacks

cocoa-nut trees, v. Cocoa-nut palm.
Rice fly, Cecidomyia oryzae, q.v.
Rinderpest, v. Mammals.
Root canker, poppy disease, v. Poppy.
Rotation of crops starves insects, v,

p. 16.
Russula, a fungus, v. Fungi.

SABZA, Hind., leaves of Cannabis

sativa, q.v.
Saccobranchus fossilis, fish, inflicts

poisonous wounds, v. Fish.
Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius, q.v.
Sagueir beetle, Eucheirus longi-

manus, q.v.

Salai or Silai, Hind. , v. Zea mays.
Sal tree, 'Shorea robusta, enemies, v.

Cerambyx.

San-hemp, v. Crotalaria.
Sarcophaga carnaria, flesh-fly, v.

Flies.

Sat-mee, v. Paraponyx ory/alis.
Sawan, Hind., Panicum frumenta-

cum, q.v.

Seald-head, v. Fungi.
Scaly bug, Lecanium coffeae, v. Bug.
Scarabaeidse, v. Coleoptera.
Scarus, sp. of Cocos Keeling lagoons,

poisonous, v. Fish.
Scleriasis, a poppy disease, v. Poppy.
Sclerotium, v. Fungi.
Scolytus, v. Tomici, Xylophagi.
Scorpion, tailless, Chelifer, sp., q.v.,

also Book-worm.

Scorpion fish, Saccobranchus fos-
silis, v. Fish.
Scutata, family of the Heteroptera,

v. Bug.

Sea-nettle, v. Actiniae and Medusae.
Sehwan, v. Triticum sativum.
Semiplotus, sp., a poisonous Assam

fish, v. Fish.

Septoria, a fungus, v. Fungi.
Sheep tick, Melophagus ovinus, q.v.
Shorea robusta, destroyed by Ceram-
byx vatica ; other enemies, Bru-

chus, Buprestidae, v. Buprestis,

Cerambyx.
Shorea robusta, host of an aphis,

v. Aphidae.
Siddhi, Hind., leaves of Cannabis,

q.v.

Silai, Hind., v. Saccharum.
Siluroids, fish, well armed, v. Fish.
Sitophilus granarius and S. orizse,

Corn weevils, v. Coleoptera.
Smut, Ustilago, q.v., also Triticum.
Snail, v. Mollusca.

Sphecodes, a genus of the Apidaa, q.v.
Spiders, v. Araneidae, Epeira.
Spiroptera hominis, a worm of the

order Nematoda, v . Helminths.
Sporotrichum mould, a poppy disease,

v. Opium.

INDEX.

125

Stag-beetle, Dorcus titan, Lucanus,

sp,, v. Lucanidae.
Stilbum, v. Fungi.

Strachia geometrica, Motch., v. Cof-
fee.
Sugar-cane, Saccharum officinarum,

q.v.
Sugar-cane louse, Icerya sacchari,

q.v., also Saccharum.
Sycosia, v. Fungi.
Symbiotes, v. Sarcoptidas.
Synanceia verrucosa, has a poison

gland, v. Fish.
Syncladium Nietneri, syn. of Tris-

posporium Gardneri, Berk., v.

Coffee.

TAILLESS SCORPION, Chelifer, sp.,

q.v., also Book- worm.
Tank, v. Eice.
Tape-worm, v. Helminths, Tsenia

solium.
Tenebrio, sp.t the meal-worm beetle,

v. Coleoptera.
Tetrodon, sp., v. Fish.
Teuthis, v. Fish.
Thalassophryne, sp., has a poison

gland, v. Fish.
Thecosoma sanguicola, a helminth

of the order Trematoda, v. Hel-
minths.

T'hela, Hind., Honey-dew, v. Aphidse.
Theridiidse, family of Arachnoidea,

v. Araneidae.
Thokra, Hind., Broom - rapes, v.

Poppy.
Thondala hoola, Can., Achaea meli-

certe, q.v.
Thyca eucharis, attacks the cold

season crops of Northern India,

v. Cold Season.
Thynnus vulgaris, v. Fish.
Tick, Ixodes, sp., q.v., also Acarina.
Tiger beetle, Cicendela Chinensis, q.v.
Til, Hind., Sesamum Indicum, q.v.
Tiliayakura, Beng. (?) Bombyx, gp.t

q.v.

Tilletia, sp., Bunt, v. Sorghum.
Tinea tonsurans, v. Fungi.
Tobacco, Nicotiana, sp., q.v.
Torrubia, v. Fungi.
Tortoise beetle, sp., Cassida, q.v.
Tortrix coffearia, Feld., v. Coffee.
Torula, a fungus, v. Gossypium.
Trees, forests, and shrubs, destroyed

by Cerarnbyx, sp., q.v.

Trichia exigu, v. Caterpillars, Coffee.
Trichobasis, v. Poppy, Triticum.
Trichocephalus dispar, a helminth of
the order Nematoda, v. Helminths.
Trichoderma viride, thread - mould

poppy disease, v. Poppy,
ricothech

Tricothecium roseum, syn. of Dac-

tylium roseum, v. Poppy.
Trigona, genus of the Apidse, q.v.
Triton cristatus, Salamander, v.

Salamandra.
Trygon uarnak, has a tail spine,

v. Fish.

Tse-tse, Glossina morsitans, q.v.
Turnip fly, Haltica nemorum, Phyl-

lotreta nemorum, q.v.
Tylenchus, v. Triticum sativum.
Typhlocyba, v. Gossypium.
Tyroglyphidae, v. Acarina.

URD, Hind., Phaseolus radiatue, q.v.
Uredo, v. Bust.
Uromyces, a fungus, v. Bust.
Ustilago, a fungous poppy disease, v.
Poppy, Saccharum.

VISCUM ALBUM, v. Parasites.

WEEVILS are killed or scared by ex-
posure to light, v. Bruchus, Rhyn-
chites, Rhynchophora, p. 19.

Wheat, Triticum sativum, q.v.

Wheat midges, Cecidomyia tritici,
Lasioptera obfuscata, and Diplosis
tritici, v. Cecidomia.

White bug, Pseudococcus adonidum,
v. Coffee.

White grub, Ancylonicha, sp,t v.
Coffee, Melolonthidse.

Wild beast ravages and rewards, v.
Mammals.

Wolf spiders, the Lycosidae, v. Aran-
eidae.

Wood louse, v. Brarrah.

XYLOCOPA, v. Apidae.
Xylophagi, v. Ghoon.
Xylotrechus quadripes, Coffee tree
borer of Ceylon, v. Coffee borer.

Y-WET-PYAT-ro,v.Paraponyxoryzalis.

ZEUZERA COFFEJE, v. Caterpillar.?,

Coffee.
Zimb, Glossina morsitans, q.v.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

Surgeon-General Balfour, Cyclopaedia of India. Third Edition. 1885.
Dr. A. Collas on the Gobius Criniger.

Dr. Cooke on Leaf Rot or Kole Roga, in India Office Economic Records.
Fungi, their Nature, Influence, and Uses. By Dr. M. C. Cooke, LL.D., and

Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A.
F. C. Danvers, Esq., Agriculture in India. Journal Society Arts. May

1878.
J. F. Duthie and J. B. Fuller, Field and Garden Crops of the North- Western

Provinces and Oudh. Roorkhee. 1882.
Insect Ravages. Edinburgh Review. October 1886.
Tropical Agriculturist. By A. M. and J. Ferguson. Colombo.
Firminger's Manual of Gardening for India. 1869.
Dr. William Gilchrist, A Practical Treatise on the Treatment of the

Diseases of the Elephant, Camel, and Horned Cattle. 1851.
R. C. Haldane, All about Grubs. Colombo.
Dr. G. Hartwig, The Sea and its Living Wonders ; also, The Tropical

World.
Hemileia vastatrix, coffee leaf disease. Reports on, by Mr. Marshall Ward,

1881; by Blr. Daniel Morris; by Mr. Thiselton Dyer; Administration

Report by the Directors of Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon ; and Ceylon

Legislative Council's Proceedings, 1881, in Colonial Office Records.
Rev. F. W. Hope, F.R.S., F.L.S., on the Entomology of the Himalayas and

of India.

India, Report of the Commissioners on Indian Cattle Plagues. 1871.
Dr. M'Leod. Report on the Epizootic Diseases of Cattle in Lower Bengal, in

Selections from the Records of the Government of India, No. xliii.

1869.
Madras Government Report on Cattle Diseases, 10th February, No. 366 of

1868, in No. Ixix. Selections from the Records of the Government of

India.

L. C. Miall and F. Greenwood, Anatomy of the Indian Elephant. 1878.
A. Moquin-Tandon, Medical Zoology. 1861.
Andrew Murray on the Apt era.

AUTHOKITIES CONSULTED. 127

Captain Nelson, 1863 ; V. S. Thacker, 1864, in Selections from the Records

of the Government of India on a murrain in Madras Presidency.
Miss Ormerod, Guide to Methods of Insect Life, and Remedy of Insect

Ravage. 1884.
Dr. C. Palmer, on Calcutta Epizootic, in No. xliii. Selections from the

Records of the Government of India.
T. L. Phipson, Minute Life. 1864.

H. Ling Roth, Animal Parasites of the Sugar-Care. 1885.
John Scott, Esq., Report on the Experimental Culture of the Opium Poppy.

1874. Do. 1877. And Reports on the Insect Enemies of the Poppy and

other Plants. 1878.
Dr. Shortt, Reports on the Indigenous Breeds of Cattle. Hid. A Manual

of Indian cattle and sheep. 1876.
Simmond's Commercial Products of the Sea.
G. T. F. Speede, Indian Gardener. 1841.
V. S. J. H. Steel, Report on a Fatal Disease among Transport Mules in

Burma. 1885.
R. Thompson, Report on Insects destructive to Woods and Forests, in No. iv.

vol. i. Records North-Western Provinces. 1868.
Reports of the United States Commissioners for Agriculture.
V. S. G. Western, Report on Cattle Disease. 1875-76.
Dr. Forbes Watson, on Boring Beetle infesting Beer Casks. 1867.
Charles Whitehead, Reports on Insects Injurious to Hop Plants, Corn, and

Fruit Crops. 1885-86.

Rev. J. G. Wood, Half-hours with a Naturalist.
J. Wood- Mason on the Tea-mite and Tea-bug of Assam, 1884; Paraponyx

oryzalis, 1885; Leptocorisa Bengalensis, 1886; Alope ocellifera, 1886

Achsea melicerte, 1886.

S. P. Woodward, Manual of the Mollusca. 1880. Fourth Edition.
John Yeats, Natural History of Commerce. 1872.
Zoologist, London periodical.

Third Edition, Three Vols. 8vo, Cloth, £5, 5s.

MR. BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY, LONDON.

THE CYCLOPAEDIA OF INDIA

AND OF

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA.

BY SURGEON GENERAL EDWAKD BALFOUE.

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