30 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
thread. It feeds on the unripe seeds of Boerhavia repens, com¬ 
mencing by eating the viscid exudation on the outside of the 
perianth tube, through which it then gnaws a hole and excavates 
the contents. Small insects, especially ants, are often seen to be 
caught by this gummy secretion, but the gum does not seem to 
incommode the larvae at all; probably their extremely long prolegs 
are specially modified to carry them over it without touching it as 
they walk, and the long larval hairs prevent contact of the body 
with neighbouring drops of gum. 
Pupation .—The larva seems to pupate almost invariably on the 
slender stem just below a seed-head, although I have once found an 
empty pupa-case attached to the midrib on the under-surface of a 
small leaf. The pupa hangs freely suspended, the discarded larval 
skin not being shrivelled up but stretched out at full length along 
the stem just above it. The rain soon destroys the empty pupa 
cases and one finds only the anal portion with the discarded larval 
skin. The colour of the pupa is very variable ; sometimes it is a 
light apple-green, sometimes a brownish-gray. (Plate F., figure 3.) 
Trichoptiltjs xerodes, Meyr. 
(Plate A., figure 9.) 
Meyr., T. E. S., 1886, 14; 1. c., 1885, 422; 1. c., 1887, 267;' 
B. J., XVII., 134. 
Distribution. — Colombo, Trincomalee, Peradeniya, Madulsima. 
Widely distributed, but by no means a common species in Ceylon. 
This species is widely distributed throughout Australia, but does 
not seem to have been recorded from elsewhere outside of Ceylon. 
Early Stages. —Unknown.* 
* A larva (supposed to be that of T. xerodes) was found at Peradeniya on 
Gynandropsis sp. (Capparid) on December 26, 1907. A description of this 
larva reads as follows : — “ About 12 mm. long, cylindrical, moderately stout. 
Head yellowish with an orange tinge. Colour of other segments a uniform 
pale yellow. A large brown latero-dorsal wart emits a long white hair and 
about five short ones. Below this is a small black supra-spiracular tubercle 
emitting a single short white hair and bearing a short secondary hair. Spiracle 
small, black. A small black subspiracular tubercle emits (i.) a short white 
hair directed forwards and downwards, (ii.) a longer white hair directed 
backwards and downwards. Below this and a little behind it is a small 
black wart emitting a single hair. Towards the ventral surface are two 
(? three) small black-warts emitting white hairs. There are numerous small 
knobbed white secondary hairs. All warts are well raised above the surface 
of the skin, and the divisions of the segments are well marked.” (Plate F., 
figure 4.) 
Although the exact identity of this larva is doubtful, its general appearance 
led me to consider it that of a Trichoptilus , and in this connection it is note¬ 
worthy that the Gynandropsis has well-developed sticky glands, as in the case 
of the other known food plants ( Drosera , Boerhavia) of the plumes of this 
genus. It is possible that the larva may have been that of T. wahlbergi, or 
even that of an Oxyptilus, but an examination of plants of Gynandropsis and 
of Cleomo viscosa will probably settle this question. 
