author(s)
Lakshmi Kanta Hazarika, Purnima Das, Rituraj Saikia and Athar Nishat Islam

abstract
Initial settlement density of the crawlers of lac insect, Kerria lacca Kerr (Hemiptera: Tachardidae) in different cardinal directions of the host plant branches was examined for two consecutive crops of Kusumi strain, summer and winter crop, during 2016-17. For the summer crop, initial settlement density towards west (31.2/sq. cm) and south (34.6/sq. cm) was significantly low as compared to that towards north (97.0/sq. cm) and east (89.2/sq. cm). For winter crop, highest settlement density was observed towards north (91.8/sq. cm) which differed significantly from that in the west direction (57.2/sq. cm). In case of horizontal branches, initial settlement density in the lower side of the branch was much higher (92.6/sq. cm and 77.2/sq. cm) then the upper side (26.8/sq. cm and 25.6/sq. cm) for both summer and winter crops, respectively. The observed difference in the cardinal direction might be due to shade preference characteristic of the insect.