Page:Life-histories of Indian insects - Microlepidoptera - T. Bainbrigge Fletcher.djvu/46

 T. BAINBRIGGE FLETCHER 13 captivity they die in a week or less, but this is no guide since they are not in normal conditions. Actually there are probably always available foodplants in India ; cultivated or wild forms of this gourd are grown constantly and in great profusion ; the pigeon-pea and lablab bean are extensively grown over India. Besides Dolichos and Cajanus, the larva of S. caffer has been found feeding on Averrhoa bilimhi {bilimbi tree), buds of Luffa sp., petals of Hibiscus mutabilis, Biophytum sensitivum and Mimosa pudica (sensitive plant), so that it is decidedly polyphagous and would apparently be able to hold its own in ^^ the absence of cultivated crops. • ' / >^^ Practically nothing is on record regarding its distribution in India, but > j||>^ it seems to occur practically throughout India, Ceylon and Burma. The Pusa-- collection contains specimens from Madulsima, Haldummulla, Peradeniya, * ^^ Coimbatore, Anamalais, Ootacamund, Pollibetta, Bababudins, Sujat,>^' ^ Allahabad, Pusa, Bhim Tal, Sarai Saleh (Hazara), Peshawar, Shillong and '^ Maymyo.

OXYPTILUS LACTUCÆ, n. sp.
Expanse 19 mm. Palpi porrect, second joint triangularly dilated with Jong scales, third joint long, slender ; ochreous, intermixed with white scales, third joint whitish above. Head tawny-ochreous. Antennae blackish, white- ringed. Thorax tawny-ochreous, tegulse ochreous. Legs whitish : posteriur tibiee broadly banded and dilated with reddish-brown scales at origin of spurs at 3/5 and apex ; spurs white, blackish apically, internal proxim.al spur longer than external and this latter longer than either of the equal distal pair ; posterior tarsi whitish, lined and banded with brown. (Abdomen broken.) Forewing cleft from slightly beyond | : first segment parallel-sided, narrow, rather falcate apically ; second segment broadening posteriorly, apex produced, strongly falcate, anal angle well marked, term.en concave : ochreous- tawny, irrorated with whitish and black scales ; an ill-defined whitish patch at base of cleft, tending to form a bar to costa ; first segment with narrow white bars at 2/5 and ¾ of length, • these bars continued on to second segment. Cilia on costa broadly whitish opposite white bars, whitish before apex ; on termen whitish with fine brown streaks from apex of either segment ; on poste- --^ Ei©¥ margin of first segment pale ochreous to first white bar, from this to 5/6 brownish intermixed with scattered black scales, from, 5/6 to apex ochreous white ; on anterior margin of second segment ochreous-brown with a few white and black scales and a strong row of black scales between i and 5/6 of segment ; on dorsum ochreous-brown, at ½ a tuft of white scales, from about ¾ to slightly beyond first white bar on second segment whitish, beyond this