898 PEOCEEDI^GS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



the ova and larvte of this pest may be seen in hundreds, eating their way 

 . into the foliage. 



In 1911 I made some interesting micro-photographs of these insects 

 at work but regret that they are not at hand, having been packed away 

 for the " duration of the wai:." 



Apparently two species of Catoclinjsofs feed upon Cycas, as de Niceville 

 mentions that he fed C. jtandava on it in Calcutta, but my own observa- 

 tions have only been on straho. 



I cannot give, with reliability, from memory, the dates when the 

 plant puts on its new crown of leaves, but in Madras this takes place 

 twice annually and one of these periods happens to coincide with onS of 

 the broods of straho. At such a time several of the butterflies may be 

 seen hovering around any of the plants and if the young, tender leaves be 

 examined, they will be found swarming with ova and young larvse. 

 The latter eat their wa}'^ rapidl}- into the substance of the juicy stems and 

 many are quite hidden in the cavities so formed. 



If the larvae are in great numbers, as they usually are, the whole of 

 the crown of the plant is entirely destroyed and as straho will or can only 

 feed on the young parts, only the first-comers reach maturity, the last 

 perishing from starvation ; they are literally eaten out of house and home, 

 the adults not being above making a meal ofi the smaller ones, as the 

 supply of food runs out. 



In Madras, the crown of leaves which coincides with the advent of 

 straho is entirely destroyed, only a few shrivelled and stunted stems 

 remaining which look as if they had been blasted with fire and, were it 

 not for the fortunate circumstance that it throws up a second crown 

 and thus dodges the parasite, the whole of the plants would be wiped 

 out in a single generation. As it is, the growth of the plant annually 

 is exactly halved and I have foimd it possible by examining a plant in 

 my own compound to trace the alternate attacked and imattacked 

 crowns, the history of which is written on the trunk of the plant. 



C. straho has at least two or three broods in the year, the food of the 

 odd broods being several species of leguminous plants, but I believe the 

 main brood depends for its livelihood on Cycas and it ought to be possible 

 by protecting this plant during the period it is putting on its new foliage 

 to check the spread of the pest. 



58.— SPIDERS AS CHECKS ON I-EPIDOPTEROUS LARV^. 

 By Major F. C. Eraser, I.M.S. 

 The important economic part played by spiders as checks on the 

 multiplication of Lepidopterous larvae is well illustrated by the following 

 notes made on the larvae of Acherovfia styx in 1907 and again in 1910. 



