898 



Note on the " Flata Limbata" and the White Wax of China. By 

 Capt. Thomas Hutton, B. N. I. 



This insect occurs abundantly a little above Raj pore, extending 

 along the jungles at the base of the mountains ; the larva is of a pale 

 brown, but this colour is completely hidden beneath a coating of pure 

 white cottony down and powder, with which the whole body is thickly 

 covered ; from the tail or anal segment of the abdomen springs a thick 

 tuft or brush of pure white down, which in a state of quiescence, 

 remains horizontally extended posteriorly, but which the insect has the 

 power of erecting and spreading out, so as to cover the whole of its 

 back. These cottony appendages are curled or crisped at the ends, 

 and when erected have precisely the appearance presented by the cut 

 and curly ends of a root of celery when prepared for the table. The 

 larva is furnished, like the perfect insect, with an inflected proboscis ; 

 the antennae are also similar in both, being composed of three joints, 

 of which the two basal ones are thick, strong and cylindrical, the 

 second or middle joint being the longest, and the third or apical joint 

 is a mere seta or bristle. The eyes of the larva are black, and it is 

 from beneath them, and a little anteriorly, that the antennae spring. 

 The hind pair of legs have three short spines, the others are unarmed ; 

 the foot terminates in a double hook ; and in these respects also the 

 larva and image correspond, except that the hind legs in the latter 

 have no spines. The perfect insect is furnished with four wings, the 

 under pair being pure white, and the upper pair or elytra of a beautiful 

 apple green, bordered anteriorly with red ; the abdomen is powdered 

 with white cottony down as in the larva, and the last segment is fur- 

 nished with a thick tuft of the same substance. The larva of this 

 species is abundant on a certain shrub growing in the jungly tracts a 

 little above the base of the mountains ; they come forth from the ova 

 in December, clustering round the stems and stalks of the branches 

 and leaves, and even on the back of the leaves themselves. They 

 deposit upon the branches a waxy substance of a pure white colour, in 

 small grains of various sizes, and sometimes the branch becomes thickly 

 encrusted with the substance ; it is, however, more especially upon the 

 leaves of the shrub that the wax accumulates, and this is so thickly laid 

 on, and becomes so firm from exposure to the atmosphere, that it may 



