Silk-producing Bombycide. 329 
of folding the prolegs together and obliquely raising all the 
anterior segments of the body, as far back as the sixth, off the 
surface of the twig or leaf, and at an acute angle with the plane 
upon which it stands, it very strongly resembles a Geometra, and 
gives one the idea of its forming a connecting link between that 
curious genus and the Bombyces. It feeds principally at night 
like the last, and in its younger stages is usually found at the 
extreme end of a young leafy twig, the terminal bud of which it 
strongly resembles. It spins a small compact cocoon, shaped like 
that of the last, but of a sulphur-yellow colour instead of white, and 
the flossy web which covers it is more closely woven into a kind 
of network, with regular open circular meshes, The eggs are at 
first of a very pale straw yellow, and are deposited in short lines 
of three to eight in each; after a time a red dot appears in the 
centre of the egg, and then, in a day or two more, the entire egg 
changes to a dark stone-grey, and the young worm speedily 
emerges. 
The moth is small and white, often with the wings partially 
hyaline and iridescent, though this, I am inclined to think, arises 
from the abrasion of the scales, which are very loose and easily 
rubbed off. The upper wing has an indistinct and nearly obsolete 
submarginal and slightly undulating double line, with a minute 
black dot on each nervure, and a larger one on the costal margin 
flanked on each side by a smaller one. About the middle of the 
costal margin, at a little distance within the wing, is a black spot 
formed by two short parallel lines close together, and an almost 
obsolete double-curved line near the basal angle, running from the 
anterior to the posterior margin; both the wings are rounded ex- 
ternally. The lower wing has also an obscure brownish sub- 
marginal line without dots; a small black dot on the disc, which 
however is not always present, and three well-defined black spots 
on the fringe of the abdominal margin, which, as in the foregoing 
species, is folded down. The under-side is dull white, with the 
discal spots and submarginal lines more clearly developed than 
above. Eyes and palpi black; antenna with white shafts and 
ferruginous plumes: body densely clothed with long hair-like 
scales; upper surface of body smoky ash-grey; thorax and 
forehead between the eyes white. 
Throughout July and August the larve of this species are 
abundant at an elevation of 5,400 feet on the Ficus venosa, which 
the natives term “ Doodli,” from the milky nature of its juices which 
exude freely when a leaf is plucked. In the female of this moth 
VOL. Il. THIRD SERIES, PART 1V.—MARCH, 1865. BB 
