No. 4.] Notes on Insect pests from the Entomological Section, 182 



belonging to the genus Thosea. For more precise determination, the 

 female moth was sent to Sir G. F. Hampson of the British Museum 

 who very kindly identified it as Thosea cervina, Moore. His 

 description of the moth is given below : — 



Male. — Head, thorax, and abdomen red-brown. Fore-wing silky 

 gray-brown, with a dark speck at end of cell, and a slightly 

 incurved line from costa just before apex to near outer angle 

 which is red-brown with a pale outer edge. Hind wing and under- 

 side dull brown. Antennae with basal joint pale j a conspicuous 

 white spot at end of fore tibia. 



Female. — With the sub-marginal line of fore wing erect; the 

 basal joint of antennae dark ; no white spot on tibia. 



Larva green, with a yellow-bordered dorsal irregular band 

 linear and purplish anteriorly, dilated at middle and cleft behind, 

 purple streaked, and with the angles at middle red ; anterior and 

 posterior subdorsal spinous tubercles ; lateral and sub-lateral series 

 of longer tubercles. 



Hab,—S\k\i\m ; Ceylon. Exp. 3 38, ? 44 millim. 



The remedial measures suggested were that children might 

 be employed to remove and destroy the caterpillars. If this were 

 carefully done, and if also the cocoons were searched for, in and 

 on the ground near the affected trees, and were destroyed, it 

 would (if not of any immediate benefit) at any rate be likely to 

 prevent or to alleviate a reoccurrence of the pest in a future 

 year. 



3, Thosea divergens, Moore. 

 Plate XWjJig. S—a, cocoon ; b and c, mot/is J & $ . 



Thosea divergens, Moore, Ze^J. Aik. p. 75, pl. 3' fig"- 23 : C. and S. No. 1325 ; 

 Hamp. Faun. B. Ind. Bnr. Ceyl. Moths, I, p. 380, No. 835- 

 Aphendala divaricata, Moore, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1884, p. 376; C. and .S". 

 No. 1296. 



This insect is another addition to the Indian Tea pests, of the 

 genus Thosea. 



In March 1897, specimens of a living cocoon were sent to the 

 Museum by Mr. J. W. Fleet, with a note, that they were taken from 

 the Bishnauth Tea Gardens, Darrang, Assam, where they had been 

 doing damage to tea bushes. 



