16 L'EPIDOPTEEA INDICA. 



Ariadne, Horsfield, Desc. Catal. Lep. E.I.C., pi. 6, fig 2 (1829). Boisd. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. p. 201 

 (1833) ; id. Faun. Ent. Ma-lag. p. 53 (1833). 



I.MAfio. — Wings sliort, broad. Male. Forewing subtriangular ; costa miicli 

 arched at the base, apex acute; exterior margin more or less sinuous, angled 

 obliquely-outward below the apex and at end of middle median veiulet ; posterior 

 inargin long; with a large veri/ 2'>'>'0'minciit friangidar patch of shining black scales on 

 ihe underside, extending from the upper median and partly into the cell to the sub- 

 median ; cell short, broad ; costal vein swollen at its base ; first and second subcostal 

 branches short, slender, first emitted at some distance before end of the cell, second 

 from immediately above the end of the cell, third at one-third beyond the cell, fourth 

 at two-thirds beyond ; upper diseocellular short, outwardly-oblique, middle 

 discocellular concave, lower long, slender, recurved ; radials from the angles ; two 

 upper median branches from end of the cell, lower from opposite first subcostal. 

 Hindwing broad ; costal margin sliort, exterior margin very convex, more or less 

 sinuous ; with the subcostal and its two branches on the vpjyerside prominently lined 

 u-ith glossy greyish-white scales ; precostal well curved from its base ; co.stal vein 

 wide apart from the subcostal ; cell short, broad ; first subcost:il branch emitted 

 before end of the cell; upper discocellular outwardly-oblique and concave, lower 

 recurved; two upper median branches from end of the cell, lower branch from 

 opposite first subcostal. Body moderate ; palpi porrect, finely pilose, second joint 

 very long and extending half its length beyond the head, third joint half its length 

 and somewhat cylindrical ; Forelegs slender ; of male slightly and finely hairy ; of 

 female scaly, tarsus scarcely dilated at extremity, the joints terminal, spines short ; 

 antennjB with a slender club ; eyes naked. 



L.\RVA. — •" Cylindrical, slender, segments armed with two dorsal rows of brauch- 

 tipt spines and two lateral rows of similar shorter spines ; head with a pair of long 

 straight branched-spines." 



Pupa. — " Rigidly attached by the tail, so that if the surface is vertical, 

 it stands out horizontally. Slender. Wing cases somewhat dilated ; a dorsal 

 protuberance and two cephalic points " (Davidson and Aitken, J. As. Soc. Beng. 

 ]890, 269). 



Food Plants. — The larva feeds on Tragia invuliicrata and T. cannabina, the 

 castor-oil plant, Bicinus communis, and Trojjhis aspera. 



Habits of Imago. — " Their flight is short and jerky ; they frequent bushes and 

 cultivated spots, and always settle with wings widely expanded. They are generally 

 numerous in individuals wherever they occur. It is a curious fact that two 

 distinct species always seem to occur together in India ; where one specie.s 

 is met with there will be found another species also " (de Niceville, Butt. 

 Ind.ii. 8). 



