430 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
on the males including a costal fold on the forewing closed during life 
and containing silky hairs, a stigma on the forewing and glandular 
patches of specially modified scales. 
The life-histories of a small number are known and have the main 
features the same (Plate XXXIII). Upright eggs are laid singly on the 
foodplant, which hatch to caterpillars with five pairs of suckerfeet. The 
larvae are usually smooth and elongate, tapering evenly to either end, 
the head large and often with a paired process, the prothorax distinctly 
compressed behind the head, giving the appearance of a neck. The body 
is slightly flattened, the inter-segments not constricted and the sucker- 
feet are flat; the whole structure enables the caterpillar to remain closely 
pressed to the leaf during the day and the colours are commonly green 
or whatever tint best agrees with its foodplant. None exhibit warning 
colouration, or terrific devices, and they appear to depend upon their 
cryptic form and colour. Some live between the folds of a leaf, others 
openly on the leaf and most are nocturnal feeders. The foodplants 
include grasses ( Graminece ), palms and species of Scitaminece. The pupa 
is cylindrical, the hind end tapering and terminating in a spine ; it lies 
in a fold of the leaf or between two leaves fastened together with silk; 
the cremaster is attached in the usual manner to a silk thread or pad and, 
in some common species, the pupa is surrounded by a white efflorescence 
on the leaf. The life-history is in general a fairly quick one and there 
are two or more broods in the rains ; so far as known, hibernation 
is passed in the imago stage. The larvae are the hosts of parasites, both 
Tachinidae and parasitic Hymenoptera having been reared from them. 
None are serious pests, though 'more than one lives upon rice and some 
on palms, turmeric and ginger. 
The family is a large one and Mabille has recently enumerated 2,600 
species (Genera Insectorum) ; 190 of these are Indian, a small proportion 
being plains species. The student should consult Elwes’ Revision of 
Oriental Hesperiidae (Trans., Zool. Soc., 1896, XIV, p. 101) where many 
species are figured in colour as well as Watson’s “ Hesperia Indica ” 
(1891) and de Niceville’s papers. The family is divided into the follow¬ 
ing sub-families :— 
Pyrhopyginae, Hesperiinae, Ismeninae, Pamphilinae, Mega, thy min ae. 
