ttfo. 2- ] Wild Silk Insects of India. 87 



lacoocha tree, but Hutton succeeded in rearing it upon mulberry. In 

 tbe Indian Museum are moths and cocoons of this form from Gobind- 

 pur; also a moth which is thought to be Hutton's type from Chota Nag- 

 pur; they are indistinguishable from moths of T. bengalensis from the 

 neighbourhood of Calcutta. There is also a carefully colored drawing 

 made by a Native artist in the Museum, of a full grown larva from 

 Gobindpur, showing the yellow and brown markings and the prominent 

 spines which are supposed to be characteristic of T. huttoni. T. afflnis, 

 therefore, may be looked upon as intermediate between T. bengalensis 

 and T. huttoni, and is consequently a variety of the latter. 



The figures of the moth and of the cocoon are from specimens in the 

 Museum Collection ; that of the larva is copied from a colored draw- 

 ing made by the Museum artist under the direction of Mr. Wood. 

 Mason; the cosoon is from a photograph taken by Mr. Wood-Mason. 



(4) Theopkila sherwilli {=Bombyx sherwilli, Moore, Trans. Ent. Soc^ 

 Lond. 3, II, p. 423, pi. XXII, fig. 1, 1864—66; also Hutton loc. cit.. 

 p. 324) .—This form was described from a moth said to have been obtained 

 in the Eastern Himalayas ; nothing, however, has been recorded of its 

 habits or transformations. The original figure and description of the 

 moth would answer completely to a large specimen of the variety T. ben- 

 galensis, with the exception of the black tip to the abdomen which T. 

 sherwilli is represented as possessing. In the absence, therefore, of fur- 

 ther information, this form may be looked upon as a somewhat excep- 

 tionally marked specimen of T. huttoni, var. bengalensis. 



Trilocha varians, Walker. Plate 15, fig. 5. 



This small species is common all over India and Ceylon ; it spins a 

 minute but compact cocoon of yellowish silk between the leaves of the 

 trees upon which it feeds. It is fairly common, but the cocoons are not 

 found in any large quantities together, and are far too small to make it 

 worth while to collect them individually. In Calcutta the moths are 

 often attracted by lamps into houses in the cold weather and the larvas 

 have been reared in the Indian Museum upon the leaves of Bukool tree 

 (Minmsops elengi). According to Hutton (Tr. E. S. Ill, 2, p. 331, 1861-6), 

 Grote found it in February and March in Calcutta feeding on Trophis 

 aspera, Ficus indica, and Ficus religiosa, while in Madras Elliot found it 

 upon Ficus religiosa; and according to Moore (Lep. Ceyl. II, p. 136) 

 Thwaites found it in Ceylon upon Artocarpus iniegri folia. Nothing fur- 

 ther seems to have been recorded of its life history, but from the fact of 

 the moths and larvae being found in the middle of the cold weather 

 it would seem likely to be a polyvoltine. 



The figures are from specimens reared in the Indian Museum. 



