Abstract
AN accurate description of the Indian lac insect (Tachardia lacca), founded on new observations of its life-history and habits, has long been wanted by students of economic entomology. They now find this provided in the recently issued Indian Forest Memoir (Zoology, vol. iii., part i) by Dr. A. D. Imms and Mr. N. C. Chatterjee. The various stages are illustrated by beautifully executed coloured figures, and there are enumerations of the insect's food-plants and analyses of its important secretion. A remarkable feature is the dimorphism shown in the male, which may be either winged or wingless—the latter condition very rare among Coccidæ. The Tachardia is attacked by an alarming array of enemies, of which the caterpillar of a noctuid moth, Eublemma amabilis, is the most formidable. It is aided in its destructive efforts by several other caterpillars of Lepidoptera, a large number of beetles and their larvae, and a host of hymenopterous parasites.
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C., G. Insects in Africa and the East . Nature 97, 90 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097090a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097090a0