290 HYBLAEA PUERA, 
Localities from where reported. 
This insect has a wide distribution, present reports showing 
that it is to be found practically wherever teak forests occur in 
India and Burma. The writer has found the insect in Bombay, 
Berar, Central Provinces and Madras (Coimbatore and South 
Malabar forests). 
Hampson gives the distribution as :— 
West Indies; South Africa; throughout India, Burma and 
Ceylon; Java; New Guinea ; Cape York. 
Relations to the Forest. 
This insect, together with its companion Pyrausta mache- 
raits, form perhaps two of the most serious pests the teak tree 
has to contend with in India, since almost every year, and on 
occasions several times during the year, one or other or both 
together, partially or entirely strip the leaves from the trees. 
The method of feeding of the AMydéva caterpillar on the 
teak leaf is very characteristic, aud apparently would not 
appear to vary: it is quite distinct from that of the Pyrausta. 
The larve attack and consume all the green tissue of the leaf, 
only leaving untouched the main rib and chief side ribs. Young 
poles and saplings have been seen with thetr entire crop 
of leaves treatedin this remarkable manner, only the mid-rib 
and chief side ribs of the leaf, with here and there attached 
to the rib a small green portion of the leaf tissue, remaining 
uneaten (see Pl, XVIII, fig. 1, and compare with fig. 2 in the same 
plate). This method of attack is so marked that there is no diffi- 
culty in recognizing at once the presence of the larve in a forest, 
even if the caterpillars are not themselves visible. These latter, 
after the fashion of most Noctuids, have a habit of concealing 
themselves during the heat of the day, probably doing a great 
deal of their feeding at night. It will of course be understood 
that it is only in the more severe attacks that one finds almost 
the entire crop of the leaves treated in this manner. In lesser 
attacks only a portion of the leaf may be eaten and the larve 
may then go on to another one. In every case, however, the 
tissue will be eaten down to the rib and the rib left untouched, 
