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62 INSECTS OF SAMOA. 



in May ; one at Vailutai (sea-level), and one at Malololelei, both in June ; one 

 at Vailima in December ; in 1925 Armstrong saw four at Lantana blossom, at 

 an elevation of about 1,000 feet up the valley of the Vaisigano, and I saw three 

 at about the same elevation between Vailima and Malololelei in October ; 

 Rechinger's specimen was seen in June. All these localities are in Upolu, and 

 we have no records of the species from elsewhere. 



28. Badamia exclamationis (F.). 



Samoan specimens of this species do not seem to be separable from the 

 Indian typical form ; possibly they indicate a recent arrival, since the species 

 does not seem to have been recorded from Samoa by previous authors. I did 

 not see it in Tonga, and can find no records of its occurrence there. 



It is common throughout the year in Upolu, Savai'i and Tutuila, wherever 

 its food-plant (never found far from the coast) occurs. The larvae are some- 

 times so abundant as to defoliate the trees completely, but the imago is never 

 found in very great numbers. It is very fond of settling on a bare twig or other 

 vantage-point, from which it darts off at frequent intervals to chase a rival, 

 generally returning to the same twig at the end of its flight. 



The egg is hemispherical, cream-coloured when first laid, but changing to 

 salmon-pink before hatching ; decorated with from twelve to fifteen longi- 

 tudinal lines of beading ; laid, usually singly, but sometimes two or three 

 together, on the underside of a leaf of Terminalia catappa L. (Combretaceae), 

 usually near the midrib and almost invariably on the young, partially unfolded 

 leaves at the apex of the shoot ; sometimes on the stem near the base of the 

 young leaves. Large trees appear to be neglected for oviposition in favour 

 of small trees and bushes. 



The young larva is pale green, with a black ring between each pair of seg- 

 ments ; head yellowish-green, marked with black. When full-grown, the head 

 is pale orange-yellow marked with black, body pale yellow-green with a narrow 

 black dorsal stripe, a black transverse ring, which fades into dull red a little 

 above the spiracles, between each pair of segments, and between each pair of 

 these black rings four very narrow red-brown rings ; spiracles black, legs dark 

 brown. The larva turns over the edge of a leaf and spins the two sides together 

 with silk ; it usually remains in this shelter when feeding, only putting its 

 head out, but may also be found feeding fully-exposed, especially when the 

 tree is badly infested and the food-supply short. 



