176 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. V. 



weather. In the " Sewari " variety of cane which is a very hard and 

 tough variety, no borers were found at Sikta. 



Larva when full-grown about an inch in length (the males a third 

 smaller), pale yellow in colour, without any markings, the dorsal pul- 

 sating " heart " often dark and prominent. The caterpillar is ex- 

 tremely soft and flaccid, with a very thin integument; the constric- 

 tions between the segments deep; the head is very small (smaller 

 than in any of the other sugarcane borers), very pale ochreous 

 in colour, with a similarly coloured plate on the dorsal area of the 

 first segment ; the spiracles inconspicuous, concolorous with the 

 body; the true legs small ; the abdominal legs and anal claspers not 

 furnished with hooks ; the body hairless. The larva when removed 

 from its tunnel is very inactive and lethargic. 



PUPA of the male "50 of an inch, of the female 75 of an inch in 

 length. In both sexes it is extremely soft and flaccid, and is very 

 easily injured. Colour cream or very pale yellow, without mark- 

 ings, but when reaching maturity and just before the emergence of 

 the moth, the wing-covers and the legs are very prominent, the 

 hinder pair reaching beyond the outer edge of the wing-covers ; 

 the head is narrow, square in front, the black eyes and the cases of 

 the antennae prominent ; the abdomen of the male tapers to a sharp 

 point, in the female the anal segment is very large, thicker than the 

 segment in front of it, ferruginous in colour. 



The larva turns to a chrysalis within the tunnel in which it has 

 lived as a caterpillar. Before doing so it bores to the extreme outside 

 of the shoot, forming a short tunnel at right angles to its original bore. 

 This tunnel it closes on the outside by a neat circular operculum or 

 cover made from a piece of the thin bark of the sheath of the cane 

 fastened at the edges with silk. It then retires back into its tunnel, 

 as it goes spinning " bulk-heads " or partitions of silk across the 

 tunnel as it retreats, one behind the other at short distances (about 1 

 or 2, mm.) apart. I have counted as many as twelve of these bulk- 

 heads, but five or six is a common number. Lastly it spins a flimsy 

 cocoon of white silk within the tunnel, and turns to r pupa, head 

 downwards towards the opening. The operculum and bulk-heads are 

 doubtless constructed to keep out ants and other predaceous insects 

 which would otherwise enter and eat up the defenceless pupa. 



By shutting up both sexes of the moth I obtained the eggs of S. 

 auriflua at Sikta. They are laid in groups of three or four, each 

 group being covered with the long red hairs with which the anal 

 segment of the female moth is furnished. The eggs are large for 

 the size of the moth, oval in shape, pale green in colour, smooth and 

 without structure. The eggs are laid close to the base of the 



