RICE-PEST OF BRITISH BURMA. 5 



stems and leaves of its food-plant, and whence also it is a 

 permissible, if not in the present state of our knowledge 

 a probable, suggestion, that the Burmese species is the 

 living representative of the ancestral form common to 

 the three. 



Paraponyx ORYZALIS, n. sp. 



The Caterpillar. Fig. 1. 



The caterpillar is about 7 millim., or rather more than 

 \" long. It was, when received, of a pale whitey-brown 

 colour. It is now red, having been artificially coloured 

 by me in order to- render its structure more clearly dis- 

 cernible. When alive it was no doubt protectively co- 

 loured to match the plants or other objects amongst 

 which it lived. It is flat ventrally, transversely convex 

 or arched dorsally, rather broader than high, and slightly 

 narrowed at the two ends. The head is not directed 

 horizontally straight forwards, but slopes slightly down- 

 wards. It bears a few longish and stiff hairs, and five 

 eyes on each side in a curvilinear series, the concavity 

 of which is directed outwards ; the eyes of each side 

 are arranged in two groups, of which one is anterior, 

 and the other posterior ; the eyes of the former are close 

 together, three in number, and the two posterior of 

 them are subequal to one another and larger than the 

 anterior ; those of the latter are subequal, about equal 

 in size to the front eye of the front group, and separated 

 from one another by an interval about equal to that 

 which separates the anterior of them from the last of 

 the front group ; all have a black speck at the outer 

 margin. In addition to the three pairs of thoracic legs, 

 which are sparsely furnished with stiff sets like those 

 on the head and body, there are present five pairs of 

 short abdominal feet or prolegs on the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 



