336 E. T. Atkinson — New or little hnoivn Indian Rhyncliota. [No. 4, 



COSMOSCARTA DECISA, Walker (PL XV : upper right hand figure). 

 A local variety of this species, described in Journal Pt. II, p. 9 

 (1885), is figured here from Dam Dim in the Bhutan Duars. 



Callitettix affinis, n. sp. 



Black with a greenish tinge : head beneath, scutellum, anal seg- 

 ment of abdomen above and beneath, tegmina and feet, testaceous-red : 

 apex of tegmina with a narrow black limbus : wings fuscous-hyaline : 

 abdomen above and beneath (except the red anal segment), and the 

 pectus, black. Long, 9 : exp. teg. 23 mill. Differs from G. prodtocta, 

 Stal, in the colour of the abdomen and scutellum and its larger size. 



Hab. Pundaloya (Ceylon) : Mr. E. E. Green. C. melanochra, Stal, 

 has been procured in Sikkim. 



Genus MACHJi^ROTA, Burm. 

 J. A. S. B. pt. II, p. 23 (1885) ; p. 196 (1886). 



I have already noticed four species of this genus, a fifth (M. pugio- 

 nata, Stal) has been described from N. Australia, and a sixth (M. gutti- 

 qera) by Professor Westwood from Ceylon (Trans. Ent. Soc, p. 329, 

 1886). I have had one specimen from Nagpur, but too much mutilated 

 for description, also several specimens of the larvee from Sikkim, and of 

 the curious tubular home formed by these insects in the larval state, I 

 have procured several specimens on the common jujube (Zizijplms) in. 

 Calcutta. These tubes are serpuliform and resemble the letter J without 

 the transverse bar at the top ; the foot, too, is curved over to embrace the 

 twig on which they rest, and the length varies from half to two-thirds 



of an inch. 



Professor Westwood's paper contains an interesting account of the 

 formation of this tube by Mr. S. Green of Colombo, the substance of 

 which I reproduce here. Mr. Green writes : — The larva resides in a tube 

 which is fixed on a twig or leaf-stalk of the Suriya tulip-tree (Adansonia 

 diqitata) on the end of the branches, and appears to be commenced and 

 finished by the insect whilst in the larval state. The newly hatched 

 larva is a little tiny creature of an orange colour in the midst of a spot 

 of froth in which it moves about and, in this state, commences to form 

 the tube. When the foundations have once been laid, the larva, in a 

 horizontal position, encloses, with a wall, a space sufficient to contain itself 

 in a perpendicular position, with its head downwards. It is then seen 

 continually working its anus against and round about the inside of the 

 tube near its orifice, at intervals, both day and night ; the anus discharges 

 a clear water-like fluid which falls drop by drop from the tube. Tho 



