242 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



appreciable injury by defoliating the plants though it was checked by per- 

 sistent hand-picking. The life-history of the insect was studied and the fol- 

 lowing is a brief summary of the same. 



Egg. — The parent moth lays hundreds of creamy white eggs in clusters and 

 groups, these being very often found attached to old pupal cocoons. Each 

 egg is spherical in shape with a small depression on the upper surface. In 

 measurement each egg is % m.m. across. 



Larva. — Eight days after laying, these seed-like eggs open and the small 

 caterpillar hatches out. The just-hatched caterpillar is slender. 2 m.m. in 

 length and of a dark colour. The body is fringed with long hairs. The 

 young caterpillars all feed gregariously like several other hairy caterpillars at 

 this stage, moult and grow in size. As it grows and moults take place, 

 ohanges in structure, size and colour take place. When full-grown the cater- 

 pillar measures \\ inches. The body is more or less cylindrical. The head 

 is hemispherical and of a reddish-brown colour with interrupted yellowish 

 bands along each lateral side. The whole body is covered with hair, the hairs 

 at the tail segment being longer. In addition to the uniform hairy coat, there 

 are other hairy structures very often characteristic of these tussock moth 

 larvae. On the dorsal surface of the first four abdominal segments are 

 cushion-like pads of white hair one on each segment ; these hairy cushions 

 stand upright. At the lateral sides of segments 1 and 2 in the abdomen there 

 is a slender whitish hairy tuft protruding at right angles to the body. On each 

 side of the prothorax is a long dark pencil of hairs pointing forwards and 

 extending a good distance beyond the head. On the median dorsal line 

 of the tail segment is a long tuft of hairs more or less corresponding in 

 position and appearance to the tail spine of sphingid caterpillars. Most of 

 these long tufts of hair are full of small branched spines and are irritating 

 to the touch. The ventral side of the body is of a pale white colour 

 with the legs and prolegs (5 pairs) brownish. The caterpillar when fully fed 

 builds a dirty white transparent cocoon of silk and hair mixed up and pupates 

 within this. The cocoons are generally located in hidden parts of the plant. 

 The pupa is of two kinds. Those of the male are smalier and measure 8—9 

 m.m., while those of the female are bigger. In colour both are of a pale white 

 colour, that of the female however being of a whiter shade, length 13 m.m. 

 The pupation period lasts from six to eight days. 



The male.- — The male insect is an active moth, dark brown in colour, with 

 the front wings having patterns of pale blue and brown and the hind wing 

 uniformly dark. The wings expand to 23 m.m. across. The antennas are 

 prominent and pectinate. The structure of the limbs and the position of the 

 front legs in repose are typically Lymantriid in nature. 



The female.— The female insect is apterous and can hardly be distinguished 

 at a glance from the chrysalis out of which it emerged. It is a fleshy mass of 

 dull white colour with the head and limbs very minute, the antenna? are very 

 small and pectinate. The wings are represented by minute pale rudiments at 



