SHORT NOTES. 105 
tacked. Closer examination showed that the devastation had 
been effected by caterpillars, which had now turned into 
chrysalids, rolled up in the remains of the leaves. A Malay 
at Telok Sera in the Dindings brought me some of these 
small black chrysalids, and from them | raised some moths 
which Mr. C. O. Waterhouse tells me are Hyblea puera cram. 
This moth, a native of the West Indies, India, Africa, and Java 
does not appear to have been recorded before from the Malay 
Peninsula. The Caterpillar seems to feed exclusively on the 
leaves of Avicennia officinalis, the *‘ Apiapi” of the Malays. It 
is a valueless tree, even as firewood, and it is fortunate that the 
insect only attacks this tree and not the more valuable true 
mangroves, which might be a serious damage to our firewood 
supply in these parts. 
The Moth is rather pretty, one inch across the wings, the 
upper ones brown with chestnut markings, the under ones 
orange colored with a waved black bar running round them 
within the margin, the edges of the wings are prettily fringed, 
The antenne are slender and thread-like. 
The Malays stated that they had never seen anything like 
this devastation before, and certainly I never saw any other trees 
so despoiled of their leaves in this part of the world. It would 
be interesting to know if the trees have recovered the injury or 
are attacked again this year. 
El Nak. 
