14 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
and repeated the operation. The process of selecting the bud and 
depositing the egg took perhaps thirty seconds. 
Larva. —The larva itself is stout, pale yellow, £tnd naked—at 
least, no hairs are visibteto the unaided eye. The larva is usually 
found coiled round at the base of the flower-tubes in the interior of 
a Lantana flower. (Plate E, figure 5.) 
Pupa. —The pale yellow pupa is to be found in a sort of chamber 
gnawed into the side of the fruit receptacle, a regular cocoon being 
formed of bits of vegetable matter spun together with silk. The 
emerged pupae are usually found projecting half way out of the cocoon 
amongst the ripening fruit, such bunches of fruit being far less pro¬ 
ductive than unattacked ones. This little plume, then, must form 
a factor of some importance in considering the increase of Lantana 
in the Island. (Plate E., figure 6.) 
Observation. —I understand that Lantana was originally a South 
American plant and was introduced into Ceylon about eighty years 
ago, and it appears probable that P. pusillidactyla is also an intro¬ 
duced species, as its distribution is very wide. Originally described 
from the West Indies, it has been recorded from Reunion, India, 
and Ceylon, and I possess a specimen taken by myself in Mahe 
(Seychelles Islands), and have lately received an example from 
Honolulu. 
Platyptilia taprobanes, Felder. 
Taprobanes. —Felder, Reise “Novara,” t. cxl., f. 54 ; Moore, Lep. 
Ceylon, III., 527 ; Meyr., T. E. S'., 1907, 482. 
Sythoffi.— Snellen, Tijd. Ent., XLVI., 54, t. v., ff. 15, 1<6. 
Tranota. —Meyr., M. S. S. (ined.). 
Distribution. —Maskeliya, Pattipola, Nuwara Eliya, Madulsima, 
(?) Peradeniya. 
Confined to the higher hill districts above 4,000 feet. Mr. Mey- 
rick has recorded a specimen from Peradeniya, but this is possibly 
an error in labelling on the part of the captor, or more probably an 
importation with its food plant into the Botanic Gardens. 
P. taprobanes seems to be always a hill species, its distribution 
outside Ceylon being South India (Palni Hills), Assam (Khasi Hills), 
and West Java (Preanger, 1500-1600 met.). 
Early Stages. —The early stages and food plant are quite unknown. 
Observation. —Snellen’s figure of sythoffi is very good, and is un¬ 
mistakably this species. The same cannot be said for Felder’s 
figure, which is very poor and doubtful; in my copy of his Plate 140, 
figure 54 appears to be engraved after sythoffi and coloured with a 
longitudinal ochreous streak near the apex of the fore wing in a 
manner only characteristic of H. argyriodactyla amongst our Sinha¬ 
lese species. The scale-tufts in the figure might apply to either of 
these species. Under these circumstances I have thought it best to 
follow Mr. Meyrick’s identification. 
