TORTRlClDiE. 
529 
flying in hot sunshine ; the resemblance to Hymenoptera is very marked, 
and in some cases it is known which species is mimicked. The wing 
expanse does not exceed two inches and is usually not more than one 
inch. Little is known of their life-histories, but so far as known, the 
larva is a borer in shoots of living plants, but has five pairs of prolegs : 
the pupa is in the shoot and is provided with hooks for moving in the 
galleries. 
Trochilium ommaticeforme , Mo., in Baluchistan was found in Peshin 
attacking poplar. (See I. M. N. Ill, p. 14.) Of the fifty odd recorded 
Indian species practically all are hill forms and it is unlikely that many 
species will ever be found to occur in the plains. 
Melittia chaiciformis , Fabr., is well distributed over India, a small 
brown insect with bands of yellow. The specimens captured in the plains 
are rarities and these insects form no part of the real plains fauna. 
Tortricim;. 
Middle spurs of hind tibiae well developed , palpi obtuse. Hindwing with 
vein 8 free or connected to cell by a bar , vein 1 c. present. 
Very little is yet known of this family in India and the student will 
recognise it only by the above characters. It is far less characteristic 
of the tropics than the next and has its greatest development in tem¬ 
perate regions. 
The moths are small and somewhat dull coloured, sometimes with a 
characteristic appearance due to the rather long forewing, the rather 
heavy scaling and the manner in which the wings are wrapped round the 
abdomen. The antennae are of moderate length, the eyes and ocelli 
well developed, the proboscis present, the labial palpi obtuse at the apex, 
the second joint roughly scaled. 
The life-histories of few Indian species have been thoroughly worked 
out in all stages. Meyrick (Handbook of Lepidoptera) gives the follow¬ 
ing summary for the family as a whole : “ Ovum flattened-oval, usually 
smooth, sometimes reticulate ; larva rather elongate, with few hairs, 
with ten prolegs, living concealed in rolled or joined leaves or-sp_un shoots, 
or in stems, or flowerheads or roots. Usually there are no markings ; 
hence the leaf feeding forms, being often very polyphagous, are hardly 
IiL 34 
