76 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. II, 



AcTiAS LETO, Doubleday. Plate 6. 



This is a large insect allied to Actias selene ; it is found at low eleva- 

 tions in the Himalayas and in Assam. According to Moller it is 

 bivoltine, hibernating as a pupa inside its cocoon, the moths appearing 

 in spring and autumn, its food plant in Sikkim being Turpina pomifera. 

 In the Indian Museum, besides specimens of the moth from Sikkim, 

 Buxa, and Sibsagar, there is a cocoon received from Sikkim as belonging 

 to this species. It is much like cocoons of A. selene in structure and 

 appearance, but is remarkable for a number of neat round holes, each 

 about the sixteenth of an inch in diameter which penetrate the cocoon 

 on all sides ; these, however.^ may possibly have been caused by hymen- 

 opterous parasites.^ Little seems to be known about the species, which 

 is far too rare to have any value as a silk producer. It is chiefly remark- 

 able for the great difference in the shape and coloration of the two sexes, 

 which are so dissimilar in appearance that they were for many years 

 thought to be distinct species, and in most works on Entomology are 

 described — the male as A. leto, the female as A. mcenas. Connected 

 with Actias leto is a form which is found in the Andaman Islands and 

 which has been described by Moore under the name of Actias ignescens 

 (P Z. S. 1877, p. 602). There are no representatives of it in the Indian 

 Museum, but from the description it appears to be little more than a 

 local variety of A. leto. 



The moths from which the figures were made were determined by 

 Mr. H. J. Elwes ; the cocoon was furnished by the late Mr. Ofcto Moller. 



Anther^a FRiTHii, Mooie, Plate 6. 



, In the Indian Museum are specimens of this species from Sikkim, 

 Sibsagar, and Buxa. According to Moller it is a bivoltine species, 

 common at low elevations in Sikkim, where it feeds upon sal {8/wrea 

 roiusta), hibernating as a pupa, and the moths appearing in March and 

 August, respectively. Rondot {V AH de la Soie II, p. 117, 1887) writes 

 that according to Fallon, who reared it in France, the larva is of an ochre 

 yellow, ringed with black. The cocoons are yellowish white in color 

 and very similar to those of A. roylei^ but less silky on the exterior. 

 According to Rondot they contain a considerable amount of silk. The 

 above seems to be all that is known of ArUheraa frithii, which is too 

 scarce to be likely to be of any use as a silk producer. 



The specimens from which the figures were made were reared in the 

 Indian Museum from cocoons furnished by the late Mr. Otto Moller. 



^ Since the above was wi-itten information has been received from Mr. A. V. Knyvett, 

 who has observed this species in Sikkim^ and has found the holes invariably present 

 in the cocoons. 



