Page:Life-histories of Indian insects - Microlepidoptera - T. Bainbrigge Fletcher.djvu/16

 2 LIFE-HISTORIES OF PTEROPHORID^ appearance. It is generally attached to a flower-stalk, but sometimes to a flower-petal or fruit, or more rarely a leaf, of the foodplant " (^). suspending itself and pupating in a few hours, the imago emerging after a pupal period of only four or five days " {^). B UOIQjERI A PALUDICOLA, FLETCHER. Trichoptilus 'pcdudicola, Fletcher, Spolia Zeylan., V, 20-32, 7 figures (1907) {}■) I.e. VI, 31, t. A f. 7 (1910) (2). This species was originally described from Diyatalawa (Ceylon) {}) and has also been recorded from Madulsima i^) and the Khasi Hills i}). It is probably widely distributed in India in kcalities where Drosera grows but is inconspicuous and easily overlooked. We have it from Diyatalawa and Kegalle in Ceylon, and from Shiilong. At Diyatalawa the larva vas found to feed on Drosera Inmnanni, which is of common occurrence in India also. " Egg-laying. A female moth confined over plants of Drosera hurmanni laid several ova, most of which were deposited on the seed capsules and un- expanded flower-buds. One ovum was laid mid^ay on a petiole on the edge of a young leaf. " Ovum. When first deposited the egg is of a pale shining green colour, showing prismatic tints. There seems to be a system of rather coarse reti- culation disposed regularly over the surface, but the enclosed depressions are very shallow. It is oval in longitudinal, circular in transverse, section. Its length is about 0-45 mm. and its diameter about O'lS mm. " Larva. There are apparently four instars : — " First inskir. The newly-hatched larva is about 1 mm. long. In colour it is a pale transparent yellow which takes a reflected tint from the Drosera leaves, thus making the young larva very difiiculfc to see ; the prothoracfc segment is a little darker, and the head is brown and comparatively very large. Scattered over the body are short white hairs, but they are neither conspicuous nor plentiful. No warts are visible. " The larva crawls about ^^ithout hesitation am.ongst the glandular hairs of the Drosera leaf, the gummy tips of the petioles standing up above it, so that it can walk about among their bases with impunity. In this stage it seems to feed entirely on the petioles and gum. " Before undergoing its first ecdysis the larva grows to about Vb mm. in length, and the segmental interstices are more plainly marked in a lighter
 * The transformations of this species are unusually rapid, the larva