MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 693 



T would be very interested to know whether this device has been 

 observed before in this or any other species. If the moths have been 

 identified, I hope the editor will make a note of the specitic name below. 



F. P. CONNOR, 



Lt.-Col., I. M.S. 



Ihe Field, Mesopot. Ex. Force. 



December 1918. 



No XLIII.— TENACITY OF LIFE OF PARAPOLYBIA 

 ORIENTALIS, SANES. 



"While seated at my writing table in my bungalow at Dehra on 25th 

 October something small fell on my head from the roof and something also 

 fell buzzing on the table. I saw that the object on the table was a small 

 insect of the wasp kind minus its abdomen. I looked up at the ceiling and 

 as I expected saw a disappointed looking lizard. I then picked up the 

 object off the floor and found it was the missing abdomen. With the aid 

 of a pocket lens 1 found it to be still in a most animated state : if I touched 

 it, out went its sting : whichever side I touched, the sting was automatically 

 shot out on that side. After the lapse of a quarter of an hour or so it 

 ceased to retaliate on being attacked. 



Meanwhile the head and thorax complete with legs, wings and antennte 

 was walking about on the table. It frequently essayed flights but they did 

 not get further than about a foot and the insect nearly always landed on 

 its back from which position it recovered itself with some difficulty. It sat 

 quite contentedly, wiped its antennae in turn with its legs and touched its 

 mouth with the ends of its antennee. When brought in touch with its 

 recently severed posterior it would not even recognize it ! 



G. O. ALLEN, i.c.s. 



Dehra Dun, 

 ^Qth January 1919. 



No. XLIV.— PROTECTIVE HABIT OF THE LARVA OF 

 TRYPAN OPHORA SEMIHYALINA, KOLL. 



About the 20th May 1918, I found in Mussoorie a strange looking larva 

 feeding on the leaves of a common shrub, Coriaria nepalensis, Wall., locally 

 known as Masuri, and having no idea what it was I kept it. 



When the leaf on which it was seated was touched, beads of moisture at 

 once appeared all over its body at the ends of the small tubercles and when 

 the danger was overpast these beads would gradually recede inside again. 

 This particular larva had plenty of practice in performing this feat as it 

 received much attention from the children and became known as the 

 " fountain caterpillar." 



It ate from the top of a leaf and generally entirely finished a leaf at a 

 time before going to another, the edge being eaten was straight and not 

 concave. About a day before it pupated, I noticed it turning its head 

 round and sucking up some of the beads : perhaps it had been recently 

 called on to exude more than it could conveniently in that condition 

 withdraw. It changed its skin about ten days or so before pupating, which 

 occurred on 12th June. The imago emerged in Bahraich on 28th June. 



G. O. ALLEN, I.c.s. 

 Dehra Dun, 

 29th Januanj 1919. 



