638 PROCEEDINGS or THE THIED ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



leaves. Otherwise the caterpillar hangs down by a fine thread which 

 is sent forth from its mouth, and the thread is blo\vn by the wind until 

 another twig or bush is reached. After the first moult the young larvae 

 completely distribute themselves over the tea bush, and each indivi- 

 dual forms a separate shelter for itself by fastening one or two leaves 

 together, very often enclosing a young shoot, and within this they live 

 and feed. The remainder of their larval life shows no distinct variety 

 of habit.- As they grow they merely construct larger enclosures for 

 themselves and consume a greater quantity of leaves. They do not 

 eat steadily through a leaf, but nibble it here and there, bite into the 

 base of a growing bud, or gnaw a small hole in the side of a young shoot, 

 after which they will desert that spot and commence operations else- 

 where. In a badly infested field, every shoot on the bush may conse- 

 quently be injured, and every bush in the garden affected. The full- 

 grown caterpillar measures about 20 to 26 mm. in length, and is pale 

 greenish or whitish green, with a shining reddish brown head and a 

 dark bro\^^l chitinous plate on the dorsum of the first thoracic somite, 

 the plate surrounding a narrow quite black crescent behind which in 

 the middle is longitudinally interrupted by a narrow paler line. There 

 are almost always twelve minute tubercles on each somite of the body, 

 from each of which springs a fine bristly hair. The legs are blackish, 

 but the prolegs are very short and whitish, while the anal legs are cons- 

 picuously developed. The larval stage occupies about three weeks 

 in May or about a month in January, after which the caterpillar almost 

 always folds a leaf longitudinally or transversely at about its middle 

 or its side, and turns to a blackish-brown pupa which when newly 

 formed has a somewhat greenish tinge on the abdomen. On each dorsal 

 abdominal segment of the pupa there are two transverse rows of mmute 

 tubercles, the first row, near the anterior margin, consisting of two 

 rows of many large oval-shaped tubercles, which are in contact with 

 one another and are more conspicuous, while the second, near the 

 middle, is composed of very minute dot-like tubercles and is rather 

 inconspicuous. The anal segment is narrowly and flatly produced 

 behmd, and bears a few (about six) thin hooks at the extreme apex, 

 and there are another two similar but more narrow hooks at about each 

 lateral end of the anal process. The pupa of the female is about 15 — 17 

 mm. long, but that of the male is much shorter, about 11 — 13 mm. 

 The moth is found throughout the whole year, and the whole life-cycle 

 occupies about a month during the summer, or about one and a half 

 months during the winter. 



Control-measures :— (1) Collection of the egg-masses is most 

 effective for preventing the propagation of this pest. The egg-masses 



I 



