Chilo suppressalis is commonly considered to be a polyphagous pest (Shen, 1965; Li and Li, 1996). However, its hosts have usually been iden- tified by examining the infested plants in field or by inoculation survival experiment in laboratory. Since most insects can employ a range of food plants as supplements to complete their life cycle, especially when pop- ulation densities are high and the preferred host plant is in short supply, the study of feeding habits based on the identification of hosts by recording occasional infestation and by no-choice inoculation rearing in laboratory may give misleading results. The current study suggests that C. suppressalis is not a typical polyphagous pest.