872 TEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIKD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



53— SOIVIE NOTES TOWARDS THE LIFE-HISTORY OF COMO- 

 CRITIS PIERIA, MEYRICK. 



Bij R. Senior- White, F.E.S. 

 References. 



Meyrick, J. Bom. N. H. S., XVII, 416, (1906) ; Antram. Ind. 

 Tea Assoc. Bull 5, (1907) ; Green, Trans. Ill Con. Trop. 

 Ag. Vol. I, 631, (1914) ; Rev: App. Ent. IV, 389, (1916) ; 

 Cey. Dep. Ag. RpL, 1916, p. 9; Rev. App. Ent. V, 497, 

 (1917) ; Ind. Tea Assoc. Q. J. 1918, pt. I, p. 8. 



Food. 



Green originally gave the food as lichens and algse on rubber bark, 

 though Meyrick in his original description notes that the sjDecimens 

 sent hiiu were also eating the bark itself. Antram and Andrews in North- 

 East India record it as eating tea-bark, whilst Green in his paper before 

 the Third Congresi? of Tropical Agriculture and later references refer to 

 it as eating rubber-bark. 



Myself I have found it only on rubber-bark. If in eating this a 

 hchenons j^atch is met with, this also is consumed, but only in so far 

 as this lies in the line taken, which is not diverted for the sake of the 

 lichen. 



On iTibber the burrows m the bark are seldom found below 5 feet 

 fi;om ground-level, and continue upwards to 20-30 feet from the ground. 

 I have not seen it eat renewed bark, though this of course is now-a-days 

 seldom found over four feet from the ground. I have never heard of 

 or seen it on tea in Ceylon. 



The actual burrow is shallow, usually only 2 mm. or so deep, and 

 may branch in any direction ; a burrow often " peters out," (no larva 

 bemg found at the head of it), without any apparent reason why it should 

 have been abandoned. 



Egg- 



No references. Apparently nothing knowTi. I have utterly failed to 

 find it myself. 



Larva. 



In Ceylon the colour of the larva is nearly crimson, the yellow colour 

 described by Antram being that of the pre-pupa only. The dark contents 

 of the intestines often show through the crimson. The abdommal 

 prolegs are doubtfull}' functional— they are not used in progressing on a 

 smooth surface such as a table, when the abdomen is slightly arched and 

 only the anal suckers assist the true legs. Beneath the web the larva 



