444 
LEPIDOFTEKA. 
without a reference collection. With so large a group much must be 
omitted, and we have selected for mention those species only which are 
likely to be found as crop pests, which are found feeding on common 
plants or which are striking and likely to be noticed. 
Agrotince .—Hampson lists 1,200 species, of which about a tenth are 
Indian in the very broadest sense, i.e., reach some part of the Himalayan 
region of British India. A very small number get beyond the Himalayas 
Southwards into India proper, these occurring principally in hill locali¬ 
ties such as the Nilgiris and Western Ghauts. The proportion of palse- 
arctic species ranging completely across Northern Europe and Asia is 
very striking and a number of these extend into the Himalayas and rarely 
into submontane districts of India. 
Chloridea (Heliothis) includes three species common in the plains. 
C. obsoleta, F. (armigera), is olive-grey or reddish brown, with the post- 
medial line indistinct and dentate. C. assulta , Guen., is orange to orange- 
brown, with a strongly marked postmedial line that is hardly dentate ; 
C. peltigera, Sch., is ochreous to orange, with a black sub-terminal point 
above the tornus. The first is the universal pest known as the Ameri¬ 
can bollworm. It is an omnivorous insect, whose life-history is elsewhere 
described in detail. The second is a less abundant species, feeding on 
