DESCRIPTION OF MOTHS FROM INDIA AND BURMA. 401 



larval case was known, the moth not having been procured. To give 

 a new name to a lepidopterous insect upon such data is equivalent to 

 the description of a new botanical species from the possession of a piece 

 of the root only. 



PSYCHID.E. 

 Mahasena destructor, n. sp. 

 Characteristics.— F 'ore tibia with a spine : veins lb. and lc. of the 

 forewine anastomosing without veinlets to the inner margin: cell of both 

 wings rather long : (brewing with all veins present, 4 and 5 and 8 and 9 

 on long stalks, 6 reaching the margin close to termination of 5, veinlet 

 in the cell with very short fork or none : hind wing with 4 and 5 stalked, 

 vein 8 anastomosing with 7 twice, before and after the cell forming a 

 triangular areole and reaching the margin separated again. This latter 

 peculiarity I have not seen in any other species of the genus. 



$. Head and thorax covered with long greyish hair, sides of 



the latter defined with dark brown. Forewing 

 greyish brown with a slight cupreous tinge, 

 nervules defined with black, the basal two-thirds 

 of the interspace between 3 and 4 with an elongate 

 hyaline spot, a marginal triangular buff- white 

 spot between veins 6 and 7 and smaller buff 

 marks on the margin between veins 4 and 5 



Mahasena destructor, Dud- 

 geon, and 7 and 8, these latter sometimes wanting. 



Hindwing uniform cupreous brown with the veins slightly defined with 



darker. 



Larval case formed of twigs of the tea plant placed longitudinally. 



Habitat.— Sikhim and Bhutan, 1,000-4,000 ft. Exp. 20-23 mill. 



Type — In coll., Dudgeon. There are also six specimens of this 

 species in the Indian Museum, three of which are marked as tea pests 

 from Chittae-one - received from Mr. Wood -Mason. 



This insect is the most destructive tea Psychid in the Darjeeling and 

 Terai districts and has long been confounded with Clania erameri, with 

 which it is superficially somewhat similar. It can be immediately dis- 

 tinguished by the forewing wanting red markings and by the position 

 of the elongate pale marginal or submarginal spot, a conspicuous one 

 filling the whole fork between veins 4 and 5 in C. crameri, whereas 

 M. destructor has the largest conspicuous pale spot between V9ins 3 and 

 4 and has only a marginal speck between veins 4 and 5. 



