94 



IN SECT A TEA NS I 'A A LIEN SI A . 



Polienus modestus, sp. n. 



Body very pale buff-coloured ; pronotum with long greyish-white hairs ; 

 head autennse, and legs ochraceous ; body beneath greyish ; anterior wings 

 pale buff-coloured, with obscure roseate suffusions on the costal and inner 

 areas, the venation stramineous, and with a medial more or less distinct 

 longitudinal series of fuscous speckles. 



Exp. wings, I? , 36 ; ? , 34 millim. 



Hab. — Transvaal; Pretoria (Distant). 



I found this species on the wing from October to December. 



Fig. 10. — Policims modestus. 



Fam. LIMACODIDiE. 



Liiiiaco(ii<l(i\ Eitcleida, Apodida, CocJiUopodida;, CocKopodm, HetercKjeneidm, of authors. 



Newman, who used the term Cochliopodidce, explained that it was derived from two Greek 

 words signifying "snail" and "foot," because the caterpillar resembles a Snail, crawling along 

 the surface of the leaf on which it feeds. The flat part of a Snail on which it crawls is called 

 the " foot " ; the feet of these caterpillars are retractile, so when one of them is turned on its 

 back, the legs appear to be withdrawn into its stomach ; but when again placed in its natural 

 position, the feet are jn-otruded, and take firm liold of the leaf." * It is for these 

 characteristics that the larvae are often known as " Slug-caterpillars." In the cocoon there 

 is a lid prepared by the larva for the escape of the imago. 



Bihliographj — Little has been written on the Ethiopian Limacodidae ; the following may 

 be mentioned : — 



Wallengren, H. D. J. " Heterocer-Fjiliilar Kafferlandet." (Kougl. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl. Bd. v. 

 No. 4, pp. 21-4 (1865).)— CocLiopoDffi. 



Druce, H. " Descriptions of some New Species of Lepidoptera Heterocera, mostly from Tropical Africa." 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1887, pp. 681-83.) 



Distant, W. L. " Ou a CoUectiou of Heterocera made in the Transvaal." — Limacodid^. (Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. (6) vol. XX. p. 204 (1897).) 



Genus CCENOBASIS. 



CoMobasis, Felder, Eeise d. Novara, Lep. iv. pi. Ixxxii. fig. 14 (1874). 



A small South African genus. 



1. Coenobasis amcena. (Tab. VIII., fig. 14.) 



Caiiobusis ainanti, Felder, Keise d. Novara, Lep. iv. pi. Ixxxii. fig. 14 

 (1874) ; Dist. Ami. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) vol. xx. p. 204 (1897). 



Hab. — Transvaal ; Pretoria (Colls. Dist. and Pret. Mas.), Johannesburg 

 (Boss), Lydenburg District (Zutrzenka). — Probably distributed throughout 

 South-east Africa. 



At Johannesburg the larva feeds on the black wattle, and 

 Mr. Eoss has sent me a pupa, which is here figured. The lid has 

 disappeared from the cocoon, from which the integument of the 

 chrysalis may be seen protruding. Miss Barrett, writing from the 

 Transkei, describes these cocoons as "not easy to find until after 

 the Moth has emerged, being streaked with greyish-green, like a 



Fig. 11. — Cocoou of Ccenobasis 



amcena. ''' 'British Moths,' p. 21. 



