508 
lepidoptera. 
Many species are nocturnal, coming out in the dusk to fly actively 
and to mate. During the day they remain concealed in shady moist 
places. Some are found resting in exposed situations during the day, 
the white Scir'po'phaga auriflua being commonly seen on rice or cane 
leaves and others on bark, on walls, etc. Many are attracted to light 
and numbers come into houses at night. 
The eggs of such Pyralidce as are known, have been found to contain 
egg parasites of the family Chalcidce. These parasites are an important 
check upon the destructive species which lay eggs in clusters in the open. 
The larvae are attacked by parasitic Hymenoptera and, more rarely, 
Tachinidce , as are other caterpillars, and every abundant species has its 
parasites. Predaceous and stinging Hymenoptera also prey upon the 
larvae, feeding upon them or laying them up for their young. Carabid 
larvae feed upon such species as live exposed and other predaceous insects 
probably destroy large numbers of the more hidden caterpillars. The 
moths are preyed upon by dusk and night-flying bats principally. 
This family is, with the Noctuidce, the most destructive to crops 
and stored products. A large number of species feed upon cultivated 
plants and several upon grain, flour, etc. The destruction is caused 
wholly in the larval stage, some of the widely spread species being res¬ 
ponsible for much loss in Indian Agriculture. Almost all the destructive 
boring caterpillars fall into this group ; the moth-borers of cane, the 
stem-borers of brinjal, the borers of pulses, castor seeds, .til capsules, 
brinjal fruits, pomegranate fruits, the leaf-rollers of cotton, rice, maize, 
being the best known examples of injurious species in India 
A great deal remains to be learnt of Indian species; two of the com¬ 
mon borers of cane in Behar were described only after they had been 
reared from the caterpillars, and there are many undescribed species to 
be found in the plains. The life-histories of few are known and these 
are the species that are most readily found as caterpillars. There are 
many species that live as larvae among roots of plants, in grass-stems, 
in bark, on wild plants, which remain to be worked out. To the student 
of life-histories there is ample room for work and the systematic collect¬ 
ing and rearing of Pyralid caterpillars would yield much that is new and 
probably throw much light on the bionomics of this group. 
The moths are classified upon characters derived from the venation, 
