442 SOME SOUTH INDIAN INSE< is, ETC. 



Lifehistory. -The white eggs are laid singly on leaves of the 

 foodplant. The caterpillar is about 15 mm. long, rather slender, 

 in colour pale green, marked with darker at either extremity, and 

 with a few small flattened warts on each segment. The red-brown 

 pupa in an oval cocoon, usually spun in the soil at the base of 

 stem of foodplant. The caterpillar folds or joins the leaves and 

 feeds on the green matter. 



Foodplant. — Horse-radish tree (Moringa pterygosperma). 



Status. -A minor pest as a rule, occasionally serious. 



Control. ''. 



PYRAUSTA MAUI l.K \I.IS. Wlk. 



Pyrausta macharalis, Walker, Cat. XIX, 1013; Hmpsn., Faun. 

 [nd. Moihs. IV. 1.32 433; Hole. B.J., XV, 679 697, tabs. 



«rg$$JE?&> 



I . 119. -Pyrausta machteralis, larva and moth. The outline figures 

 show the natural sizes. (From Indian Museum Notes. 1 



Distribution. -Nilambur. Probably throughout Plains. 

 Lifehistory. The small, round, greenish eggs are laid singlj on 



the backs ol young Teak leaves, close to a rib or veinlet. The 

 mature larva is about 24 mm. long, elongate, moderately stout, pale- 

 green in colour with yellow sub-dorsal lines sometimes tinted with 

 reddish-purple and a double scries of yellow purple-dott.d spots on 

 each abdominal segment along either side of the mid-dorsal line. 

 The larva feeds on the green matter of the leaf, leaving the bare 

 skeleton, and the presence of such skeletonized leaves is highly 

 < haracteristic of this insect. When full-fed, the larva pupates in a 

 slight coeoon, usually formed inside a shrivelled and rolled leaf. 

 I hi total lite-cycle is about 30 davs. (Hole.) 

 Foodplanls. Tea k 1 Tectona grandis). 



