COLLECTING. 
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insects. None can be reckoned as pests since none occur abundantly ; 
Convolvulacece are their food especially, several feeding on sweet 
potato (Ipomcea batatas) and on garden creepers. The majority breed 
only in the rains since there is then only a sufficiency of food. Appar¬ 
ently the imago goes into hiding for the intervening seasons, but 
accurate data on this and other points in the life history are not 
available. 
The species are described by Bohemann in his Monograph, dated 
1850-1862, and a number of species have been described since. Hop- 
lionota (6), Prioptera (8), Calopepla (4), Epistictia (3), Chirida (4), 
Aspidomorpha (14), Cassida (26), Laccoptera (4), Coptocycla (13), 
are the genera. The larger and more brilliant species of Calopepla . 
Aspidomorpha. etc., are wholly hill or forest forms, and only the 
duller green Metriona and Coptocycla and the smaller Aspidomorpha 
occur in the plains. Aspidomorpha miliaris , Fabr., was reared in 
Calcutta on Convolvulus ; it commonly attacks sweet potato also. The 
life-history has been worked out in the Philippines by W. Schultze, 
who figures all stages. (Philippine Journal of Science, III, p. 261.) 
The duration from the egg to the emergence of the adult was 38 days, there 
being four larval moults before the pupal moult. He remarks that the 
larvae feed and pupate in groups. The student should consult this 
paper, as also Muir and Sharp’s (Trans. Ent. Soc., London, 1904, p. 1), 
and Muir and Kershaw’s (Loc. Cit., 1907, p. 249), for interesting notes 
on the eggs and transformations of this group. 
Metriona circumdata, Hbst., is the commoner green form breeding 
on the same plant, as also does the common six-spotted Chirida 
sexnotata , F., both of these laying eggs singly on the leaf. Cassida 
dorsonotata, Boh., is common in the moister areas, while Coptocycla 
varians, Hbst., is found in abundance breeding on the wild Ipomoea 
on sand dunes (Ipomwa pes-caprce. )-; the single oval egg is laid on the 
leaf and is fastened with short brown filaments from the side of the egg 
on to the leaf ; the green larva is flattened and very difficult to see, 
resting by day motionless on the plant. 
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Collecting. —The beetles are easily collected and preserved ; their food- 
plants should in all cases be noted. Whenever possible they should be 
kept alive with food till eggs are obtained and the larvae studied. This 
