PLIJME-MOTHS OE CEYLON. 
21 
Deuterocopus ritsem^e, Wlsm. 
Notes Leyden Mus., VI., 243. 
Distribution. —Galle, Peradeniya. 
Outside of Ceylon, it has hitherto only been recorded from Java. 
Early Stages. —Examples were bred from pupae found suspended 
anally from the upper surface of leaves of Leea sambucina, which is 
evidently the food plant. On the same bush I found a larva feeding 
inside an unopened flower bud ; it appeared exactly similar to that 
of rubrodactylus , except in wanting the terminal red suffusion ; 
unfortunately I failed to rear it. 
Observation. —The most brightly coloured Ceylon specimens agree 
exactly with Lord Walsingham’s description of D. ritsemce, except 
that the bands on the posterior tibiae are pale yellow instead of being 
white as there described. 
SPHENARCHES, Meyr. 
Sphenarches Caffer, Zell. 
Caffer. —Zeller, Linn. Ent., VI., 348; Zell., Lep. Micropt. Caffr., 
p. 118 ; Wlk., Cat. XXX., 934 ; Wlsm., T. E. S., 1881, 279 ; Meyr., 
T. E. S., 1887, 268 ; Wlsm., Indian Mus. Notes, II., 20 (figures) ; 
Cotes, 1. c. 163 ; Wlsm., P. Z. S., 1897, 56 ; Meyr. Fauna Geogr. 
Maldives, I., ii., 125 ; Lefroy, Mem. Agric. India Entom., I., 220. 
Anisodactylus. —Wlk., Cat. XXX., 934; Moore, Lep. Ceylon, 
III., 528 ; Swinh., Cat. Moths India, p. 668. 
Diffusalis. —Wlk., Cat. XXX., 945. 
Walkeri. —Wlsm., T. E. S., 1881, 279. 
Synophrys. —Meyr., T. E. S., 1886, 17. 
Distribution. —Colombo, Jaffna, Kegalla, Galle, Weligama, 
Hambantota, Trincomalee, Peradeniya, Maskeliya, Diyatalawa, 
Madulsima, Alutnuwara. 
Widely distributed in the low-country, but only moderately 
common as a rule. Mr. W. Vaughan, however, reports it as 
extremely abundant at Alutnuwara in January, 1908. In India it 
sometimes attains the status of a pest on cultivated Cucurbitacese, 
and it has also been recorded as damaging Dolichos lablab. 
Its distribution extends from Africa through India to Burma, 
Australia, and Japan. It is the only plume moth as yet recorded 
from the Maldives. 
Early Stages. —A short description of a larva, about half-grown, 
reads—“ Head yellow. Other segments pale brownish yellow. 
A narrow dorsal, latero-dorsal, and spiracular reddish stripe. Legs 
pale yellow, prolegs and claspers dark. Hairs white, except the 
short clubbed hairs which are black.” 
I have found the larva on Averrhoa bilimbi (“Bilimbi”) at Galle, 
and on the flowers of Bio phy turn sensitivum at Majulsima, so that 
