NOTES. he 
Heortia vitessoides, Moore.—The caterpillars of this pretty 
Pyralid moth defoliated a plant of Lagetta lintearia, the Lace 
Bark Tree of the West Indies, growing in the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Peradeniya, in July, and again in September, 1913. 
When feeding the caterpillars spin a fine webbing over the 
tree, and they are able to lower themselves to the ground by 
spinning a thread of silk. 
The caterpillars are yellowish-green in colour and shining. 
The body-tubercles bear long white hairs. The head is glossy 
black. Along each side of the body are two rows of circular, 
metallic-blue spots. These are in groups of three above the 
spiracles, the two upper being the largest and situated close 
together, the lower one just dorsad of the spiracle. These 
spots are enclosed in the area between two longitudinal 
yellowish stripes. Faint yellow transverse stripes occur on 
the dorsum. 
The first thoracic segment and the anal segment are orange- 
yellow in colour. Just cephalad of the anal plate is a large, 
median, metallic-blue spot. 
In confinement the larve pupated in the soil in a cocoon 
formed of particles of earth and small stones. 
The pupa is at first shining reddish-brown in colour, and 
bears two rows of dorso-lateral black spots. The apex of the 
abdomen is somewhat darker in colour. 
Later the pupa as a whole becomes darker, and the dorso- 
lateral spots are less distinct. The wing cases are yellowish- 
brown at the base, this area being crossed by two dark brown 
bands. The apex of the wing case is traversed by numerous 
fine, dark, longitudinal lines. 
The abdominal region is in general lighter in colour than 
the head and thorax. 
The cremaster consists of a few (3) hooks situated on a 
small tubercle. 
From caterpillars that went into the soil on September 25 
moths began to emerge on October 9. 
They agree with Hampson’s description of Heortia ritessoides, 
Moore, in the Fauna of British India, Vol. IV., p. 363, except 
that, while Hampson gives the wing expanse as 40 mm., 
these range from 25 to 30 mm. 
11 6(7)14 
