H YPSIDiE • 
463 
. The life-history presents few points of interest. Eggs are laid singly 
or in clusters on the foodplant and the larvae have five pairs of sucker- 
feet, are brightly coloured and sparsely clothed with hair. They feed 
openly on the leaves by day and are possibly distasteful to the majority 
of birds. Pupation takes place in a slight cocoon in rolled leaves on the 
soil. So far as is known, hibernation is passed as a pupa in the soil, and 
there are several broods yearly commencing in the hot weather if food is 
available. Two species are pests to agriculture and at least two injure 
trees, so the family has some economic importance. 
Hyps a is a genus of rather large moths, the palpi upturned, the 
apical j oint slender and reaching above the head. The antennae are fasci¬ 
culate in the male, ciliate in the female. Two species are very common 
in the plains, the larvae feeding on pipal, pakur and other species of Ficus 
grown as shade trees (Plate XXXIX) ; the caterpillars are sometimes 
so abundant that they defoliate large trees and, standing below an 
infested tree, one hears their excrements falling in a continuous shower 
like rain. We figure the moth of H. alciphron , Cram., from which H. 
ficus , Fabr., differs in markings ; both are dull ochreous with yellow and 
black markings at the base of the wing. 
Digama hearseyana , Mo., is common throughout the hill and forest 
areas in India but is rarely found in the cultivated plains. It is a small 
moth, the forewing dusky with dark spots, the hindwing orange. It 
has a very neat trim appearance and is one of the very common 
moths one first sees and captures in the hills. Two genera, Nydemera 
and Argina, formerly placed in Arctiidce are now classed with Hypsa. Of 
the former, three species, N. lacticinia , Cram., N. latistriga, Wlk., and 
N. plagifera , Wlk., are large moths, white and brown in colour, which 
occur throughout the hill and forest areas of India and are found rarely 
in the plains. Of the latter, three species occur throughout India in¬ 
cluding the plains, feeding on Sann Hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and wild 
Crotalaria. All are bright coloured moths, the forewing with ringed black 
spots ; A. argus, Roll, has the forewing brownish red, the hindwing 
scarlet, the larva is common in the pods, feeding on the seeds. (Plate 
XXXIX, figs. 8, 9.) A. syringa , Cram., has the forewing pinkish brown 
and clouded with fuscous, the hindwing crimson, while A. cribraria , 
Clerck., has the ground colour orange. The last is the most common, its 
