28 SPOLIA ZEYLANK \. 



Common in the hill districts between about 1,000 and 4,000 feet 

 elevation. At Madulsima I found it common about half an hour 

 before sunset on a bank covered with rough herbage. This moth 

 seems especially attached to Ageratum conyzoides (" White Weed ") 

 from which I have often disturbed it, but a search on this plant has 

 failed to reveal the larva. 



Outside of Ceylon, T. wahlbergi has been recorded from South 

 Africa, St. Helena (? introduced), and Queensland. 



Early Stages. — The early stages and food plant are as yet unknown 

 (unless the larva described under T. xerodes belongs to this species). 



Eggs laid by captured moths, however, are of a smooth elongate- 

 oval shape and of a very pale shining greenish- white colour. In 

 size they are about ■ 47 mm. long by about ■ 32 mm. broad and • 28 

 mm. high, a transverse section thus being oval. The newly-hatched 

 larva is whitish, with a black head and long black dorsal hairs. 



Trichoptilus Ge»€»BTcrjr&7—W z ^- 



aeTecUUi^ llv - {Plate Am figure 8 ° 



[^^T^A-l) Congrudlis.— W\k., Cat. XXX., 943 ; Wlsm., P. Z. S., 1885, 885 ; 



,£■ Swinhoe, Cat. Moths, India, No. 4,545 ; Meyr., T. E. S., 1907, 473. 

 U ^vv~ 3 . Oxydactylus.—Wlk. , Cat. XXX. , 944 ; Wlsm. , P. Z. S. , 1885, 885 ; 



*° Cc " <vu£ ' Swinhoe, Cat, Moths, India, No. 4,549; Moore, Lep. Ceylon, III., 

 ^ sjp**> 529, t . 209, f. 16. 



Ochrodactylus. — Fish, Canad. Entom., XIII., 142; Fernald, 

 Pter. North America, 1898, 2nd edit., p. 15. 



Centetes.— Meyr., T. E. S., 1886, 16 ; 1 c, 1887, 266 ; Wlsm., P. Z. S., 

 1891, 494; 1 c, 1897, 56. 



Compsochares.— Meyr., T. E. S., 1886, 16. 

 Ralumensis. — Pag., Zoolog., XXIX., 239. 



Distribution. — Jaffna, Mankulam, Anuradhapura, Kegalla, 

 Colombo, Barberyn Island, Ambalangoda, Galle, Hambantota, 

 Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Habarane, Undugoda, Maskeliya.* 



Abundant in all the sandy waste places of the low-country where 



the food plant grows. 



\ U ^M~ Outside of Ceylon this species has been recorded from Florida 



' ^ <£- and the West Indies, from South and East Africa, from India to 



^[triw**"} ^ jj ew Q. umea an( j ]^ e Australia, and from China, and I have found 



^^ jy "fc^fc abundantly in theChagos Islands, Farquhar Island, the Amirantes, 



If*- , \^Ai ft and Coe'tivy. It probably occurs in the Maldives also, though not 



■***"* „ ^w yet recorded thence. 



J r j 1 ^ ■ 



Uo' T" ;: V single specimen taken by Mr. J. Pole on December 5, 1908, at Deeside 

 Trigonometrical Station (4,900 feet); doubtles a straggler or casual immigrant 

 in the Maskeliya district, as 1 ha\ <> never seen its food plant (Boerhavia re.pens) 

 it any heighl greater than about 1 ,300 Eeet, and at this elevation only along 

 the road between Taldena and Badulla, whither it seemed to have been 

 carried from the low-country by cart traffic. Mr. Pole, however, has since 

 informed me that he has met with this plant. " once or twice on the cart road 

 side near a factory in Maskelr 



