LEPIDOPTERA. 



381 



which show up conspicuously against the brown or purplish-brown 

 ground-colour; head reddish-brown. The brown pupa is usually 

 found in a folded leaf, 01 < asionally in the ground. The caterpillar 

 lives within a folded leaf which is usually rolled from the 1 p 

 upwards, and the caterpillar feeds on the leaf-substance of the roll 

 in which it is contained. 



Brinjal and wild Solatia 



Status. A minor pest as a rule but occasionally a very destruc- 

 tive pest of brinjal. 



Control. Hand-picking and spraying. 



Remarks. In Northern India the caterpillar is reported to bore 

 into brinjals but this has not been noticed in the South. 



BLEMMA SCITULA, Rmbr. 

 Erastria scitula, Rambur, Ann. S.E. Fr. (1833), 26, 5, t. ii, f. 16. 

 Eublemma scitula, Hmpsn., Cat. Phal, X. 153. 

 Eublemma cretacea, Hmpsn., 111. 1 let., IX, 96, t. 162. f. 17, Faun. 

 I. Moths, II, 341 ; Lefroy, Ind. Ins. Life, p. 457, t. 36, f. 9. 



I . HI. — Eublemma scitula, larval case. larva extracted from a 

 mot) 1 aller outline figures show the natural si nal.) 



Distribution. Throughout Southern India. 



Lifehistory. Eggs are laid on trees infested by Scale-in- 

 which the caterpillars teed. The larva is short and dump 

 concealed in a case which looks not unlike a large Scali 

 itself; at times thousands of thes may be seen grouped 



together on the stems of Babul trees. 



Food. -Scale-insects of various sorts. 



Status. An extremely beneficial insect except when it attacks 

 tin Lac-insect which, however, is not cultivated to any extent in 

 Madras. 



rARACHE NITIDULA, Kb. 



Noctua nitidula, Fab.. Mant. Ins., II, 1. 



