An Account of a New Moth Borer of Sugar Cane, 
sides of stems were found to be spirally ringbarked, as it were, near 
the ground; no sign of such tunnelling, however, being noticed until 
the lower leaf-sheaths had been removed. 
After destroying the heart leaves in this manner the larva proceeds 
either to tunnel in a downward direction or travel upwards, in the latter 
case consuming first the dying vascular tissue, and then often boring 
erratically around the side of the shoot among the softer portions. 
Unlike Polyocha, the caterpillars of this pest never feed upon or 
inhabit the central rotting core, often, indeed, vacating a shoot after 
having devoured the juicy basal part, and entering another. 
Shoots affording a good illustration of the invasion of injuries below 
ground by the common red rot disease (Colletotrichum falcatum) were 
occasionally met with ; the presence of the fungus in such cases having 
apparently proved distasteful to the larvee and induced them to decamp 
prematurely. 
Description of Egg. 
Elongate-oval (Fig. 7); pale greenish-yellow, beautifully shot 
with iridescent blue and gold-pink; surface, when highly magnified, 
slightly roughened. 
The eggs of this species, which, although very minute (about 0-70 
by 0-40 mm.) are just visible to the naked eye, were found attached 
to the cane stalk close to a node but not quite hidden by the leaf-sheath, 
two being placed side by side touching, and a third slightly separated 
from them. Having been deposited by a caged female, however, the 
above data respecting number and position cannot be taken as 
indicative of the habits of this insect in the field. Males were confined 
in the same cage, and copulation evidently took place, since larvee were 
hatched from these eggs in due course. 
Description of Larva. 
Pale, creamy-yellow, broadly banded transversely on dorsal area 
of eleven body segments with a greyish-pink suffusion, the bands (where 
magnified) consisting of innumerable minute ring-like dots. Occasional 
specimens, just before pupation, are dark-reddish. First thoracic segment 
with two very irregular somewhat triangular or Y-shaped brown blotches, 
usually blackish posteriorly, but sometimes wholly black, and composed 
of granular markings. (Fig. 2.) Head light yellowish-brown, partly 
concealed in first body segment ; mandibles and outlining of eyes reddish ; 
ocelli six, grouped as in Fig. 4, four of them more or less obscured by an 
irregular black suffused blotch. Anal segment with two centro-dorsal 
white, slightly tuberculate spots surrounded by a dark brown ring of 
granular markings (Fig. 3). Body sub-cylindrical, obtusely pointed at 
each end. Length about 5 mm. (Fig. 1). 
