PTER0PH0RIDJ5. 
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incompletely known, and Meyrick has recently described a number of 
species. (See Journ. of Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. and Trans. Ent. Soc.', 
London, 1907, p. 472.) At least two are injurious to agriculture and occur 
widely in India ; others are known from different foodplants or have 
simply been captured. Over forty Indian species are described, 
largely from the Khasi Hills and South India ; some are widely spread, 
e.g., Trichoptilus congrualis, Wlk., found generally over the tropics. 
Exelastis atomosa, Wals. (Plate LIII), is one common species in the 
plains, a delicate dry-grass-coloured insect with an expanse of 20 m.m. 
The eggs are laid singly on the flower buds, young pods and more rarely 
the leaves of the foodplant, which is commonly the pigeon pea (Cajanus 
indicus). The egg is oval, not flattened and not reticulate, of a greenish 
colour. A single moth has been found to lay 94 eggs, these hatching in 
about 4 days in hot weather. The larva feeds by eating into the soft 
growing pod and then into the young seed ; it remains partly outside on 
the pod, stretching in to get the seed and not wholly entering the pod. 
Having eaten one seed it makes a fresh hole opposite another. The larva 
is green or brown, or a mixture of both and closely resembles the colour¬ 
ing of the pod. The body is clothed with a dense pubescence of short 
spines and longer capitate hairs radiating from tubercular points. The 
median dorsal line is longitudinally indented with a slight ridge on each 
side. The larval life is from 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the temperature ; 
before pupation the larva spins a little pad of silk and also a light network ; 
the apex of the abdomen bears hooks that are fixed in the pod, the hairs 
of the pupa being entangled in the network ; the pupa is thus fixed to 
the pod in an exposed position ; it is soft, green or brown in colour with a 
close resemblance to the larva and with limbs and wings which are not 
fixed to the body, but are held in a straight line along the ventral surface- 
The anterior half of the pupa can be raised when the insect is disturbed. 
The moth hangs from the plant by the anterior legs, the hindlegs held 
out over the body, the wings expanded but the hindwing so concealed 
under the forewing that it is not seen. The duration of life in this stage 
is apparently considerable, as moths live for over 10 days without food 
in confinement, and since the moth apparently lives over the time that 
foodplants are not available, waiting till she can lay eggs. This species 
is common throughout the plains and causes a considerable amount of 
