HESPERIIDiE. 
127 
black line on the back of the second segment; legs and prolegs greenish-white. Head waxy 
yellow. The larva rolls up a bamboo leaf helically with two or three turns, and lives within the 
tube thus formed (See figure on PI. Vila.) The larva is figured fullgrown on PI. 4a, 
Fig. 21. 
Pupa, smooth, cylindrical, of a pale and shiny yellowish or ochreous, the front of the 
head dark brown or blackish just over the palpi and partly over the eyes. Enclosed in a twisted-up 
leaf-tube. Attached by the tip of the abdomen only, the inside of the tube being lined with a very 
slight film of silk. The head of the pupa is usually, but not invariably, towards the closed or upper 
end of the tube. If touched or otherwise annoyed the pupa can (like some other Hesperid pupae) 
vibrate rapidly, striking the head and anterior parts against the sides of the leaf-tube, and producing 
a sound which can be heard distinctly at the distance of a yard or more. The larva, also, when 
disturbed jerks the head and anterior part of the body with a rapping motion. For a day or two 
previous to emergence the pupa remains yellowish-white, but the crimson eyes show very plainly 
through the pupal shell. 
Erionota thrax, Linn. 
The largest Hesperid here, and a very common insect wherever there are banana plants, 
but it seldom flies much during the day, and thus escapes notice. It becomes very active about 
dusk, flying at great speed about the tops of bananas and other foliage. Occasionally it rests from 
its wild gyrations on the tip of a leaf, when a mate will often suddenly appear and both will dart 
off together. I have captured this insect at flowers as late as 9 p.m., and it probably flies much 
later if the night is propitious. 
Fig. 6, PI. XIV is from a $ taken in September, but it is on the wing throughout the 
wet season, though most plentiful in the autumn. The sexes are very similar. The eyes are 
crimson. 
Egg, hemispherical but rather flat-topped, the underside broad and flat. Body of the 
egg with many very shallow flutings running axially; general colour rather dark yellow, the ridges 
of the Eutings pale yellow, the flat top dark yellow. Later, the general colour is dirty white, the 
top crimson, and a crimson line encircles the body of the egg about mid-height. Laid either 
singly or more generally in batches of three to a dozen or rather more, on either side of leaves of 
the banana, Musa sapientum , L., Nat. Ord. Scitaminece , the foodplant of the larva. 
Larva, just hatched, yellowish, head black. Fullgrown, subulate, much narrowed 
towards the head ; of a general greenish-white, wrinkled transversely on the body, and with a few 
short whitish hairs on the dorsal surface ; the body covered with a white flocculent substance, thick 
in places, giving the larva a rough appearance. When this powder is cleaned off an indistinct 
dorsal band is seen, due to an internal organ (dorsal vessel or heart) showing through the semi¬ 
transparent skin. The larva lives in rolled-up tubes made from a portion of the banana-leaf, 
stitched up the side and around the top, open at the bottom. 
