394 



SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSECTS. ETC. 



Foodplants. -Cow-pea, potato, pea, indigo, Carum copticum 

 (Bishop's Weed) ; Cruciferae (Lefroy), Coreopsis (Hampson). 



Status. Occurs fairly commonly on cow-pea, indigo and potato 

 (Nilgiris), but scarcely a pest in Southern India. 



PLUSIA PEPONIS, Fb. 



Voctua peponis, Fab., Syst. Ent., p. 608 (1775). 



Plusia agramma, Guen, Noct., II, 327 ; Hmpsn., Faun. Ind. Mollis. 

 II, 574; Lefroy, Ent. Mem. Dept. Agri., Ind., I, 1 94, Ind. Ins. Life, 

 p. 452, t. 37, f. H. 



Fig. 261.— Plusia peponit 



I In outline figure shows the natural size. 

 (< >riginal.) 



Distribution. — Throughout Southern India. 



Lifehistory. The greenish-white, globular, beautifully-sculptured 

 eggs are laid singly on the under-surface of the leases of the food- 

 plant. The newly hatched larva is about 1'5 nun. long, head and 

 legs black, body whitish, with scattered dark hairs arising from 

 black warts. After the first moult the larva has on each segmenl 

 a dorsal and a sub-dorsal black conical wart from which arises .1 

 short hair. The full-grown larva is about 30 — 35 mm. long, slender, 

 segments distinct, covered with whitish conical warts each giving 

 rise to a short hair; head olive-green; body whitish-green with 

 milk-white longitudinal stripes ; legs green, only three pairs of 

 prolegs including anal claspers ; anal segment humped. The 

 caterpillar remains on the lower surface of the leaf which it cuts 

 so as to make the distal portions bend down and provide a shelter 

 for it. The colour of the caterpillar is extremely like that of its 

 foodplant. Pupation in a tough cocoon of pure white silk spun 

 between folds of the leaf; pupation period about a week |T.V.R.]. 



Foodplants. Snake-gourd, pumpkin and other Cucurbitacece. 



Status.- Occasionally a rather serious pest of cultivated 

 cucurbits. 



Control. Hand-picking of larvae and pupae. 



