TEANSFOEMATIONS OF SOME SOUTH-AFEICAN LEPIDOPTEEA. 173 



Family EUPTEROTIDJE. 



Phyllalia patens (Boisduval). (Plate VI. figs. 38, larva; 39, cocoou ; 40, imago.) 

 Bombyx patens Boisduval; Delegorgue, Voy. Afr. Austr. ii. p. 500 (1847). 



Larva. Plead bright red ; body velvety black above, pale fulvous underneath, thickly 

 clothed with chestnut hairs, which are thicker and redder on the 1st somite over the 

 head; the dorsal hairs are comparatively short and succeeded by two subdorsal rows 

 of comparatively long hairs : in the last moult the body becomes pale fulvous, with a 

 broad black band on each somite ; legs and claspers same colour as hairs ; spiracles 

 white. 



Feeds on the "veldt" grass, and is very common at Belfast, 6500 feet elevation in 

 Eastern Transvaal. The hairs have an irritating effect on the hand when the larva is 

 handled. 



The larva constructs a sort of grotto on the ground under the leaves of the grass, in 

 which it remains concealed during the heat of the day, emerging and feeding in the 

 cool of the evening. Fig. 38 shows the attitude assumed by the larva while feeding. 

 The larva takes a long time to grow. I noticed the larvae every evening feeding in the 

 grass right through the summer months from November to February, when my 

 specimens began to change into pupae; they emerged as imagines in about one month. 

 I think the species must be single-brooded. 



Pupa. Purplish red-brown. Formed in a reddish cocoon spun out of the hairs of the 

 larva amongst the grass, or on the ground at its roots. 



The imago is a very common moth in the same locality, and is much attracted by 

 light in the evening. 



Phyllalia flavicostata, n. sp. (Plate VI. figs. 37, imago ; 41, larva; 42, pupa.) 



Female. Head, thorax, abdomen, and legs bright fulvous ; legs thickly clothed with 

 bright fulvous hairs on the femur, a wide black band on the tibia, and four narrow 

 black bands on the tarsus ; both wings pale cream-coloured, with a fulvous fascia on 

 the costa, clothed with thick fulvous hairs, broad at base, narrowing to a point at apex ; 

 a thin marginal fulvous line ; cilia yellowish white ; the antennae of the female 

 specimen figured look filamentous, but are seen through the glass to be minutely 

 serrated or pectinated. 



Larva. Head red ; body velvety black, with subdorsal, lateral, and spiracular 

 greyish-white tubercles, bearing tufts of thick fulvous hairs of moderate length with a 

 few longer hairs among them ; spiracles white ; legs and claspers red. 



Feeds on common " veldt " grass. 

 vol. xvn. — part ii. No. 2. — August, 1903. 2 a 



