4 Imms, Houwpteroiis Insect PJiroinnia {Flata) viarginella. 



the jungle around the Sat Tal lakes at an elevation of 

 about 3,500 feet. 



The larvae were found plentifully during the middle of 

 June, clustered on the leaves and twigs of several species 

 of small forest trees. They are covered posteriorly (P/. //., 

 Fig. 3) with long white waxy filaments, which render 

 them very conspicuous even from a distance of 12 or 15 

 yards. The clusters of these larvae bear a resemblance 

 to groups of small white blossoms, I may add that two 

 friends who were with me at the time, and neither of them 

 entomologists, quite believed them to be flowers until the 

 insects dispersed by a series of leaps when disturbed. 

 The white filaments of the larvae, when removed, stick 

 tenaciously to any object brought in contact with them. 

 For this reason I believe that, in all probability, they 

 render the insects distasteful to birds. If a larva be seized 

 by a bird, the filaments would cling to the outside of its 

 beak, and would probably be removed only with difficulty, 

 after causing the bird a good deal of discomfort. The 

 larvae were found both on horizontal and vertical twigs, 

 and also on the leaves, but exhibited no marked arrange- 

 ment according to the age of the individuals forming any 

 particular cluster. No examples of the perfect insect 

 were then to be found. The larvae suck the juices of 

 plants, and gradually increase in size after each moult 

 until the arrival of the monsoon season, when the perfect 

 insects commence to emerge. Some fourteen days later 

 I revisited San Tal, and a few of the larvae were still 

 noticeable, but the majority had reached the winged state. 

 A number of the exuviae of the larvae attached to the 

 trees were evident with their waxy filaments still intact 

 and it needed close examination to distinguish them from 

 living insects, 



The mature insect exists in two forms, a pea-green 



