PKOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAI, MEETINO 393 



? Pyralid borer. 

 Plate 64, fig. 1. 

 Foodplant — Rarhi and Batri (Saccharum spontaneum). 



These caterpillars, which we have not yet been successful in rearing, 

 occur in very large numbers. The hard stems of grown-up plants are 

 converted into hollow tubes throughout their length, a single larva 

 usually occurring in individual plants. The heart shoot dies and dries 

 only when the larva bores near the top. 



The insect has only one generation in the year. Young larvae are 

 found about July and they feed up to about the early part of November, 

 by which time they become fullgrowu. Then they rest through the 

 winter and the hot weather, pupating and emerging as moths about 

 June-July. The larvae have been observed to rest in the Insectary up 

 to the middle of August and then die. 



The fullgrown larva is about 35 mm. long. The shape is cylindrical 

 or rather semicylindrical being slightly compressed dorsoventrally. The 

 head is glossy-yellow. The segments of the body have an elongated 

 and slightly chitinized and glossy appearance. The hairs are small 

 and black. The spiracles are elongated oval, brown with a dark narrow 

 rim. The five pairs of prolegs are short, equally developed and have 

 their booklets iu complete circles. 



' Pyralid borer. (Plate 64, fig. 2). 



Foodplant — Ikri (Saccharum fuscum). 

 A caterpillar with a glossy yellow-brown head and the body havuig 

 a green colour on the ventral surface and the sides and dorsally a browmish 

 tinge on the prothorax, pink on the mesothorax and deep pink or rather 

 red on the rest of the segments, was observed to occur in large numbers 

 iu March. They fed on sugarcane stems in the Insectary but could not 

 be reared. 



1 Pyralid borer. 

 Foodplant — Batri {Saccharum spontaneum batri). 

 A rather slender-bodied, pale-yellow caterpillar, with a yellow head, 

 reddish-brown patches in the subdorsal region of the segments of the 

 body arranged in longitudinal rows on the back and a very prominent 

 visible broad brown tracheal tube running from the thoracic to the 

 last abdominal spiracle on each side, was collected in small numbers 

 in June. It could not be reared. 



