4 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. XV, 



be discovered. The flight, though by no means strong, is less weak than 

 might be expected from the shape of the body. Even females fly readily 

 from tree to tree. The natural colour, though not the shape, closely 

 approaches that of the young leaves on which the insect feeds. The 

 colour in life is pale leaf-green ; antennae (except the base of the first 

 joint), eyes and ocelli brick-red; tarsi tinged with brown, a brownish 

 blotch on the dorsal surface of the 2nd joint of the 2nd and 3rd tarsi ; 

 claws white at the base, black at the tip ; membraneous part of the 

 hemelytron colourless, transparent ; edge of abdomen dark brown, a 

 reddish-brown line along lower surface oi rostrum.] 



In addition to the above characters it may be mentioned that there is 

 a distinct tubercle wdthin each posterior angle of the pronotum ; of the 

 two black lines which are mentioned in the original description as border- 

 ing the inner and outer margins of the lateral gutta of the connexivum, 

 the one on the inner border is very faint and sometimes entirely absent. 

 The anal appendage of the male is almost pentagonal in shape, the 

 anterior, lateral and posterior angles being rounded ; it is inserted at the 

 apex of the deeply cleft apical margin of the sixth abdominal segment ; 

 it is deeply excavate dorsally and slightly convex ventrally. The male 

 is much smaller and narrower than the female, the sexes being respec- 

 tively 22 and 26 millim. in length and 14-5 and 18 millim. in greatest 

 breadth. 



In the earlier stages the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen 

 is marked with some irregular patches of bright red. A distinct narrow 

 black border runs along the external margins of the head, thorax and 

 abdominal segments. This species was originally described from Kandy, 

 Ceylon, and was not previously represented in the collection of the Zoolo- 

 gical Survey of India. It does not appear to be represented in the British 

 Museum collection. 



Family COEEIDAE. 



[In this family again only one species is common, namely Petalo- 

 cnemis ohscura (Dall.)] 



Petalocnemis obscura (Dall.) 



1852. Accmthocoris obscura, Dallas, List Hem. II, p. 518. 



1902. Petalocnemis obscura, Distant, Faun. Brit. Ind. Rhyn. I, p. 38(). 



Barkuda, 17-vii-14. 25-vii — 4-viii-17. 



[ This species is by far the commonest bug on the island. It resembles 

 the Malayan Acanthocoris scaber (Linn.) in habits, feeding on the poison 

 apple Datura stramonium, Linn. The eggs are laid on the lower surface 

 of the leaves in batches of from 17 to 42. Several females usually lay 

 together or in succession, and the young insects of different clutches 

 mingle in a common crowd. Shortly after hatching they migrate as 

 a rule to the stems of the plant, on which they crowd together. Both 

 adults and young in different stages may be discovered in a single crowd. 

 Owing to their mottled colouration they are by no means conspicuous 

 in the broken shadows thrown by the leaves of the plant.] 



In the description of the species the dilatation of the apex of the 

 3rd joint of the antennae has been omitted. This is visible only when 



