Australian insects

Moths differ from butterflies in having the abdomen stout and thickset, and not pinched or constricted in front at the junction with the thorax; and the antennae, instead of being clubbed or thickened at the tips, are either slender filiform appendages or are uniformly thickened, pectinate, or feathered; when of the latter form they are much more pronounced in the males.

Most moths are nocturnal in their habits; in the day time they are usually found hiding among the foliage or resting in dark corners, and many can be obtained by shaking the bushes over a net. The larger species may be killed at once in the cyanide bottle, but must be transferred to a box as soon as they are dead, for they rub very easily; the smaller forms can be placed alive in glass-topped or chip boxes, and afterwards killed, and then mounted before they are stiff. The members of a few groups fly about in the daylight; for instance Agarista glycine, our vine moth, but they are exceptions. The beautiful hawk moths only flit about at twilight, and are known as “crepuscular” moths.

This great group contains some giants of the insect world, such as some of the Atlas Moths of India, and Wood Moths of Australia, which are as big as small bats; while among the Micro-lepidoptera we come to many tiny creatures which require to be examined with a lens before their identity can be established.

The typical moth caterpillar constructs a stout silken bag or cocoon, within the shelter of which it casts its skin and becomes a well defined pupa; but there are many which bury themselves in the ground, or pupate in cavities in timber that form no true cocoon but simply undergo their transformations in such secure hiding places.

Moths are well represented in all parts of Australia, but are most numerous in well wooded country: a considerable amount of work has been done in this group by Messrs. Lewin, Scott, Walker, Meyrick, Lower, Turner, and others in Australia, and Messrs. Guérin, Boisduval, and many other foreign writers. I have in the arrangement of the families followed Lower’s Catalogue of Victorian Heterocera (Victorian Naturalist Vol. x. 1893—Vol. xiv. 1898).

Family 1. Connecting-link Moths.
CASTNIIDAE.

The members of this group comprise a few insects that form an intermediate state of development between butterflies and moths; for while there is no doubt that they are moths, they have hooked or thickened antennae like the “Skippers,” somewhat similar habits, and even the general colouration. They are chiefly confined to South America and Australia. Euschemon rafflesiae is one of the largest hesperid-like forms; is black, blotched with white, and is found in the northern parts of Australia.

The Genus Synemon contains a number of small reddish brown moths which flit about over the grass, just like small butterflies: Synemon sophia is about 1½ inches across the wings, which are brown, slightly marbled in front, and the hind pair blotched with dull yellowish brown; it is common on the grassy flats along the eastern coast. S. hesperoides is common in Victoria in similar localities; is about the same size, but of a darker brown colour; the fore wings marbled with fine wavy grey lines, and the hind ones with a rusty red tint.

Family 2. Butterfly Moths.
URANIIDAE.

These are large usually day-flying moths with slender antennae; broad wings, the hind pair crenulated and produced into tails; the abdomen like that of a stout butterfly, and never extending beyond the hind wings.

The typical species (Genus Urania) are found in America, others in Madagascar; but our beautiful forms belong to the Genus Nyctalemon, one species of which, Nyctalemon orontes, is very common in North Queensland. In the neighbourhood of Cairns a score of this species can often be taken in the early morning resting on the low scrub, and small swarms of them can often be seen flying across the rivers in the middle of the day. This species is a very handsome large velvety black moth marked with broad dull green bands, and having short creamy swallow tails. Several very beautiful species are also found in Southern New Guinea.

Family 3. Day Moths.
AGARISTIDAE.

This family has been lately revised by Hampson (Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae Vol. I. British Museum 1898); he divides them into 55 Genera containing 225 species, of which some typical forms are peculiar to Australia; they are conspicuously coloured and further noticeable from their habit of flying in the daytime. The members of this family are chiefly confined to the tropical parts of the Old World and the Australian region; in America a few only are found in Mexico and Brazil.

The Vine Moth, Phalaenoides (Agarista) glycinae, better known under the old generic name of Agarista, is one of our regular vine pests in the caterpillar state, devouring the foliage and young grapes. The moth lays her eggs upon the vine canes; the grubs when full grown measure up to 2 inches; are of a general deep greenish yellow tint, with the whole of the upper surface covered with small tubercles each bearing a single hair; and they have a band of bright red blotches round the dorsal surface of the anal segment. They bury themselves in the ground, forming a dark reddish brown chrysalid enclosed in a primitive cocoon or covering of particles of earth. The moth measures 2¼ inches across the wings, and is of a uniform black colour marbled on the head, thorax, and sides of the wings with white; the fore wings are tipped with white, and an irregular transverse bar of pale yellow is followed by a smaller blotch through the centre; in the hind pair the outer margins are irregularly edged with white. Phalaenoides tristifica, formerly known under the name of Agarista lewinii, is slightly smaller; the fore wings are more mottled, and the hind pair have an irregular white spot in the centre by which it can be easily identified. Cruria donovani, also smaller than the Vine Moth, has the fore wings mottled with a number of small white blotches, and a broad irregular patch in the centre of the hind ones. Eutrichopidia latina comes closer still to the Vine Moth in size and colour, but can also be easily recognised by having a single broader, irregular, dull yellow band across the outer half of the fore wings. The Painted Day Moth, Agarista agricola, attracted the attention of our earliest entomologists by its brilliant colouration, and was described and figured in colours by Donovan in his “Insects of New Holland” 1805, and again by Dr. Leach in his “Zoological Miscellanies” published in 1815. It has a wide range from Sydney northward, and the several sub-species placed under this name extend its range to New Guinea and Timor. This is now the sole type of the Genus Agarista, in which so many of our species were formerly placed; it is a handsome black moth; measures up to 3 inches across the wings, the fore-pair of which are richly blotched with pale yellow, deep orange, and blue; in the hind pair the centre is bright red and blue, and the margin is white. The head and thorax are pale yellow above; the legs and under surface red; the tip of the abdomen dark orange. The larva is a handsome dark coloured caterpillar clothed with scattered and curious long clubbed hairs.

Plate XXII.—LEPIDOPTERA.

Family Notodontidae.

1. Danima banksiae (Lewin).

Family Agaristidae.

Family Hypsidae.

3. Nyctemera amica (White).

Family Sphingidae.

Family Liparidae.

5. Darala ocellata (Walker).

Family Syntomidae.

7. Syntomis annulata (Fabr.).

Family Castniidae.

9. Synemon hesperoides (Feld).

Family Pyralidae.

10. Zenckenia recurvalis (Fabr.).

(Original photo. Burton.)]

The Genus Hecatesia contains our curious “whistling moths,” which fly about just at dusk, making sharp continued notes like the calls of some of our small cicadas. The sound is said to be produced by the male rubbing his curiously clubbed antennae against a pellucid ridged area in the front of the fore wings. Hampson doubts this, and says it is probably caused by rubbing the tarsal spines against the ribbed space. Hecatesia fenestrata is a pretty little moth, about 1 inch across the wings; is of a general dark brown tint; the outer margins of the fore wings are provided with a broad semi-lunate ribbed band (the musical apparatus) in front, and two white lines behind; the centre of the hind pair and abdomen richly blotched with reddish yellow; the head, antennae, centre of thorax, and outer margins of the wings marked with white.

Three species of this Genus are recorded from Australia, two of which were described from the west coast, while Hecatesia fenestrata has a range from South Australia into N.S. Wales.

Family 4. Ringed Moths.
SYNTOMIDAE.

The typical Genus Syntomis, in which Hampson places all our species that were previously described under the Genus Hydrusa, comprises about 138 species, chiefly confined to Africa, Asia, the Malay Archipelago and Australia; 12 species are recorded from this country. They are all rather small moths of a general black or brown tint mottled with orange yellow or lighter brown.

Syntomis annulata, about 1 inch across the outspread wings, has a very wide range from the Philippines through New Guinea and Australia, and naturally varies much in different localities; our variety is of a blackish tint, with six orange spots in the fore wings, and two more angular blotches on the hind ones; the abdomen is regularly banded with orange and black. S. aperta measures 2 inches across the wings, which are of a brownish tint with large blotches of orange yellow occupying the greater portion of the surface, divided from each other by slender lines. It ranges from New Guinea and Queensland round to S. Australia, and has been captured out west about Bathurst, N.S.W.

Euchromia creusa is a very handsome form about 2 inches across the narrow fore wings, which are black with two large transparent divided spots forming a double row across them, and another very small one at the base: the hind pair have two similar blotches. The head, thorax, and basal portion of the abdomen are black, shot with metallic blue; the basal abdominal segments are crimson, finely barred with black. This beautiful moth has a wide range over the Malay Archipelago and the Pacific Islands, coming down to Thursday Island and North Queensland.

Many of the foreign species in the larval state feed upon lichens or grass.

Family 5. Burnet Moths.
ZYGAENIDAE.

These moths form an extensive family represented in most parts of the world; they are also day-flying moths, and some are very brilliant in colour. In England some of them are known as “Burnet Moths” and “Green Foresters.” They have long narrow wings, and the antennae thickened toward the middle.

Most of our species belong to the Genus Procris, which are also very abundant in Southern Europe. They are small creatures measuring under 1 inch across the wings, and are of a general dark brown tint with greenish markings. Hestiochora bicolor is a curious little moth remarkable for its bright colouration, which has a wonderful resemblance to one of our small parasitic wasps (Braconidae). The wings are clouded with black; the head and front of the thorax are red, the hind margin of the latter black; the abdomen black and white.

Family 6. Hawk Moths.
SPHINGIDAE.

The hawk moths have a stout rounded abdomen tapering to a point; thickened antennae; stout narrow pointed wings; the proboscis or sucking mouth-tube very long, curled up under the head when at rest, but capable of being uncurled in front of the head to suck up the nectar from the deepest tubular flower while the moth is hovering over it. They hide during the day, and are most active just at twilight, when they dart about, over, and around the flowering shrubs. Their caterpillars are very handsome thick cylindrical grubs marked with brilliant eye spots and stripes of various striking colours, and are easily distinguished by a curious curved fleshy horn on the dorsal surface of the tail segment.

They take their scientific name from the fanciful resemblance of their stiff horny pupae (which are naked and generally buried in the sand beneath their food plant) to the Egyptian Sphinx, and their popular names of “hawk” and “humming-bird moth” from their powers of flight.

Our species have been divided into five sub-families, and in Miskin’s “Catalogue of the Australian Sphingidae” (Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland) 42 species are listed under 13 genera; to which list a few species have since been added.

The first group contains what are popularly called the “Clear-winged Hawk-moths,” from the large bare scaleless areas in the wings; they fly about in the daytime with a loud humming noise, very much resembling some of the Carpenter-bees when hovering over the flowers. Hemaris kingi is marked with black and yellow, and has a thick tuft of stiff hairs on either side of the abdomen; it is not uncommon in Southern Queensland. H. hylas is a similar stout moth with unspotted wings which has an extended range across Queensland to Japan, Asia, and Africa; while a third species, H. janus, ranges from Brisbane to Rockhampton. In the Genus Macroglossa 4 species are recorded from Queensland, some of which extend into our north coast scrubs.

In the second group we have a very distinctive little banded hawk moth, Cizara ardenia, which ranges from New South Wales into Southern Queensland; most of my specimens come from the Illawarra scrubs, N.S.W., where the larva feeds upon the wild vine. Its ground colour is dark brown with narrow grey bands running round and crossing the middle of the wings, with a curious eye spot on the shoulders. The Genus Chaerocampa contains a number of large handsome hawk moths, some of which are introduced species world wide in their range; about 17 are recorded from Australia. The Silver Stripe, Chaerocampa celerio, is a common European species, that is well known here. French describes the caterpillar as a vine pest in Victoria; it is a cylindrical greenish to purple tinted grub with eye spots on the hind segments. The moth measures 3 inches across the wings; its ground colour is greyish fawn, with four slender lines of silvery white forming a stripe down the centre of the fore wings, and the body marked with silver spots; the hind wings are bright pink. C. oldenlandi, which comes close to this species, feeds upon vines in N.S. Wales. It differs in having no short oblique silvery stripes on the front of the fore wings, hardly any red on the hind ones, and has an unbroken silvery dorsal stripe down the abdomen. C. erotus, about the same size, has dark reddish brown fore wings, slightly marbled, and the hind pair yellow, darkened on the hind margins; its larvae sometimes feed upon sweet-potatoes. C. scrofa is a much smaller species of a lighter brown colour, with the hind wings dull brick red, darkest along the hind margin. This is one of our commonest species with a wide range over Australia; the brown small-headed larvae feed upon grass and low herbage. Among our most striking forms are the two species of the Genus Coequosa, both about the same size, sometimes measuring up to 7 inches across the wings. Coequosa triangularis is of a reddish brown and grey tint, mottled on the hind wings with bright yellow, the darker brown forming a large angular patch in the centre of the fore wings; C. australasiae is of a light buff or fawn colour, more marbled, with the wedge-shaped blotch merging into the colouration of the tip of the wing; and the hind pair yellow, only edged with brown on the hind margin. The caterpillar of C. triangularis, our commoner form, is dull green, with a rough granulated skin and a small elongate head; the tip of the abdomen is furnished with a pair of stout plates used as claspers to cling to its food plant; above this on either side is a black shining bead-like eye, which is only an ornamental process, but this often leads people to think that this is the head end, and in some places it is known as the double-headed caterpillar. It feeds upon the foliage of Persoonia and Acacia, and when touched has a habit of swinging its body round, as if trying to strike; when full grown it is enclosed in a black shining pupa-case hidden among the rubbish beneath the trees. The Genus Macrosila contains 4 species, two of which are not uncommon in N.S. Wales. The She-oak Hawk-moth, M. casuarina, measures up to 5 inches across the wings, and is of a general greyish mottled brown colour, with a darker blotch in the centre of the fore wings, which are slightly mottled with black toward the tip; and the hind wings are often very dark brown.

The Convolvulus Hawk-moth, Protoparce convolvuli, ranges all over the world, the caterpillars feeding upon the convolvulus; and it is also sometimes quite a pest upon sweet-potatoes. The moth measures 3½ inches across the wings, and is of a general dark grey colour thickly mottled with dark brown; the abdomen has a broad brown stripe down the centre with short transverse white, pink, and black bars on either side.

The Privet Hawk-moth, Sphinx ligustri, has light brown fore wings, the abdomen and hind wings being marked with pink and black. It, like the vine hawkmoth, has a world wide range, and the caterpillars, with their delicate green tint beautifully striped with white, are very common in our gardens toward the end of summer on privet and other garden shrubs. In spite of their large size, they are very difficult to detect until the damaged foliage calls attention to their presence.

Family 7. Wood Moths.
HEPIALIDAE.

This is a very distinct group, the members of which usually have long deflexed wings rounded at the extremities, and the neuration of both pairs of wings alike; the tongue is generally obsolete; ocelli absent; the tibiae without spurs; while the abdomen is very long and cylindrical in the typical forms. They lay their eggs upon the bark of different forest trees; the little caterpillars, after feeding for a short time on the surface, tunnel into the tree trunk, becoming fleshy naked grubs which bore cylindrical chambers of various forms in the timber, in which they sometimes remain for years, finally pupating in the burrows. The moth develops and escapes in the summer from the pupal case, which is frequently found projecting from the hole in the trunk or root after it has emerged. The moths are generally found clinging to the tree trunks, where they are easily captured. They frequently come to the light at night, but are difficult things to kill and mount, on account of their size and the ease with which the scales rub off. The females of some species lay many thousands of eggs. If these eggs are not removed from captured specimens and the bodies stuffed before setting, they generally become greasy and spoil in a very short time.

On account of their large size and beautiful colouration the wood moths have attracted a great deal of attention; Scott figured and described a number in his “Australian Lepidoptera,” part of which has been published by the trustees of the Australian Museum N.S.W. Meyrick published a revision of the family (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889), which is much more satisfactory, and has been followed in these notes. The moths, which Meyrick considers to be the ancestral forms of the Bombycina, have a world wide distribution, and are well represented in Australia.

Donovan in his “Insects of New Holland” described one under the name of Hepialus australasiae, which is now known as Perissectis australasiae. With outspread wings it measures up to 3½ inches across; the body and fore wings are of a general dark yellowish colour, marbled and mottled with dark brown, and the hind wings have a reddish tint. The Genus Porina contains 8 described species from this country; others are recorded from New Zealand and Africa; they are smaller moths of a general brown, yellow, or grey tint.

The Genus Hepialus comprises a number of very beautiful moths with all kinds of delicate green, yellow, pink, and silvery shades of colour. The moth lays her eggs upon a tree stem; the newly hatched larva eating off the surface of the bark forms a matted web under which it bores into the centre of the branch, and then makes a vertical shaft downward, varying in length from a few inches to several feet, in which it feeds and pupates. The best method to obtain specimens of these moths is to collect the infested branches or stems, cutting them off a foot or more on either side of the silken webs (which often form a regular ring round the stem), and placing them in several inches of damp sand in a box, with a sheet of glass over the top. The wood thus dries slowly and does not damage the delicate pupae or larvae from which, if collected at the proper time, the perfect moths of several species will readily breed out. The males and females of the same species differ from each other in size, colour and markings.

Plate XXIII.—LEPIDOPTERA.

Family Hepialidae.

Leto staceyi (Scott).

(Original photo. Burton.)]

Lewin’s wood-moth, Hepialus lewini, is one in which the sexes are very different. The larger female measures 2½ inches across the wings; the fore pair, head, and thorax are dull claret red, mottled on the centre and tips of the wings with green; the hind pair dull yellow, with a pinkish tint. In the male, the head, thorax, and fore wings are pale green, the latter banded with opaline white; the hind pair of a paler green with white tints. This is one of our common species, and feeds in the stems of the Casuarina.

The larva of H. exima feeds on the stems of the “Lilly-pilly” and Water-gums, forming quite a felted bag round the branch, and is said to remain in the larval state for several years; like the great wood-moth, before it pupates it eats the web off in front of its chamber and replaces it with a wad to protect the opening; this it can easily push out with its horny pupal head when ready to emerge. This is a much larger green form, with the edges of the fore wings marked with brownish yellow and two eye spots of the same colour in the centre; the small male has the green fore wings marked with opaline white. H. ramseyi is easily recognised by its greater size and the green fore wings richly mottled with large silvery white spots forming irregular transverse bands.

The Bent-wing, Leto staceyi, is one of our most remarkable moths both for size and colour: it was originally described by Scott under the generic name Zelotypia, but Meyrick placed it in the Genus Leto, in which another species has been described from S. Africa. Both of these species are peculiar in having the hind wings tufted with stout shaggy hairs. This moth, chiefly obtained in the forest country about Newcastle, has been largely bred from the infested timber by miners in the district, who had a ready sale for them, and who at this work naturally learnt a good deal about their habits. When the young larva enters the tree trunk it covers the opening so carefully with web and particles of bark, that it requires an observant eye to detect the injury. According to some of the collectors the larva lives and grows in its shaft, about a foot in depth, for a period of six years (but this needs verifying); it generally pupates early in December after blocking the opening with a felted wad; but soon after its transformation it pushes this wad out. The chrysalid fits close to its vertical shaft, and aided by rows of fine spines round the apex of each abdominal segment can move up and down; when reaching maturity it has a favourite habit of resting in the shaft with the top of its head level with the transverse burrow, and dropping downward if disturbed. Thornton, who bred or captured nearly 100 in the Newcastle district, generally obtained them in the month of March, and found that those under observation invariably came out about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The larger female measures up to 8 inches across the wings, of which the front pair are long, slender, and arcuate on the hind margins; these are of a general greyish fawn brown, wonderfully marbled with black and brown, and with a large eye-spot in the centre toward the tip: the hind wings and body are reddish yellow. Meyrick suggests, in his paper previously quoted, that the curious eye-spots on the wings, together with the general outline of the moth resting upon the tree trunk, might be a case of protective mimicry, resembling a snake’s head; this appears to me however to be very far fetched. Skuse reproduced a drawing of the moth and a monitor lizard’s head in the “Records of the Australian Museum,” to show this fancied resemblance, but if the correct colouration had been added the resemblance would have been very much less marked.

The Genus Pielus contains some large brownish moths with very hairy legs, two of which have been described from Australia: Pielus hyalinatus, slightly under 4 inches across the wings, is of a general chocolate brown tint with an irregular silvery white stripe and dark lines running through the centre of the fore wings; the hind pair are brown. The larvae feed in the roots of several species of wattles, and are frequently attacked by Cordiceps, the curious fungus that turns them into what are known as “vegetable caterpillars.” This species has a range from the southern parts of W. Australia through Victoria to North Queensland. Messrs. Olliff and Prince figured and described (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1887) a handsome variety of this moth under the name of Pielus imperialis. The marbled wood-moth, Trictena labyrinthica, is a large dark brown moth, measuring up to 6 inches across the wings, which are covered with a scroll-work pattern of lighter colour. The larvae of these also feed upon the roots of trees.

In the Cossidae we have a typical goat-moth, Culama caliginosa, resembling the English species in form and habits. The larva is a short, dull, red, naked grub that feeds in the stem of the apple-gum, tunnelling round under the bark until nearly full grown, when it bores into the wood and pupates in a cocoon at the end. The moth is of a uniform delicate slate-grey, finely marbled with black lines all over the broad rounded wings, which are folded downward when at rest.

The Zeuzeridae comprise some of our giant wood-boring moths; some are as large as small birds, with great rounded bodies, and grey wings thickly mottled with black, brown and fawn: Zeuzera eucalypti has received an unfortunate specific name, for it feeds in the larval state in the stems and branches of several different species of wattles, and kills a great number of these trees by perforating them with great circular burrows; when ready to pupate, it forms a silken bag close to the outer skin of the bark, which has been gnawed away so that it can easily push its way out when ready to emerge. The moths have the usual brown tint mottled with irregular blotches of grey. The rust-coloured wood moth is a much larger species, and is commonly known under the name of Z. liturata, but is probably identical with Z. cinerens. It measures up to 4¼ inches across the wings, and is of a delicate mottled grey and brown tint, with the hind wings and central portion of the dorsal surface of the abdomen bright chocolate brown. The larvae of this and the following species live in the centre of the stems of large forest gums, and are said to take a number of years to come to maturity.

Macleay’s wood moth, Zeuzera macleayi, said to be identical with Herrick-Schafer’s Eudoxula boisduvalli, has a large cylindrical body, and is the giant of the family, measuring up to 10 inches across the wings. They are brown thickly mottled with grey scales; when taken they are generally found clinging to the tree trunks, upon which each female deposits many thousands of small shot-like eggs.

Olliff has given a detailed description of Leto staceyi, and an account of a variety (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1887). In a general account of these wood-moths (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1894) I recorded a number of Thornton’s observations.

Family 8. Bag Moths.
PSYCHIDAE.

The members of this group are more remarkable in the caterpillar than in the moth stage, for as soon as they emerge the larvae construct protective caps of silken threads and bits of their food-plant, which as they increase in size become regular silken sacks open at the neck, through which the head and fore-legs protrude as they crawl about, but retract at the least alarm. They take their popular name of “Bag” or “Case Moths” from this peculiar habit, and the different species construct different forms of bags and ornament them with sticks or leaves. In Germany they are called “Sacktragers”; in America are known as “Basket Worms”; and the family is fairly represented all over the world.

This country is rich in large species, some of which were noticed as curiosities at a very early date, and Westwood described and figured most of our bag moths (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1854) under the Genus Oiketicus: McCoy in his “Podromus of Natural History of Victoria” Decade iv. gave additional notes on the habits of two of our common species; and an interesting paper on how they construct their portable homes will be found in the “Victorian Naturalist” by Hill (1898). The caterpillars themselves are short, naked, dull green creatures with stout horny heads, and are apparently so well protected from their many enemies that one would hardly expect to find them suffer from the attacks of parasites. But they must have some weak point in their armour for a very large percentage, even when collected and kept in breeding cages, produce only wasp and fly parasites. When full grown the caterpillar closes up the neck of its bag and fastens it by a stout silken band to a twig before changing into the chrysalid state; but while the male turns round and pupates head downward, the female remains head up as before, and when she casts her pupal skin is an aborted wingless creature, with small head and legs; the body simply develops into a great swollen sack of eggs, which hatch out in her body, or in the shelter of the cocoon; and the larvae make their way out at the open tip of the bag, each attached to a silken thread, a squirming mass of hundreds of little black creatures, leaving her only a shrivelled skin in the cocoon. The male moth, which is rare, is a very active creature, which dashes about as soon as he emerges from the pupal case, and damages his wings (even when bred in captivity) before he can be caught. He has curious toothed antennae; the head and body are thickly clothed with fine hairs; the body has telescopic segments, capable of being protracted to double their ordinary length when impregnating the female enclosed in her cocoon. The wings are narrow, very lightly covered with scales, and without any very distinctive pattern.

Plate XXIV.—LEPIDOPTERA.

Family Liparidae.

About 13 species of these moths are described from Australia, of which several are very common at times in the bush. Saunders’ Case Moth, Metura elongata, is our largest species; the larva constructs an elongate silken sack often up to 4 or 5 inches in length, broadest in the centre and tapering to both extremities; the outside is covered with short lengths of sticks nibbled from the food plant, or picked up during its wanderings. On an average these sticks are about as long as wooden matches, and are securely attached at irregular distances, the lower ones often extending beyond the silken tip. The caterpillar, of which only the head, thorax, and fore-legs can be seen, is a stout, naked, dull brown grub barred with black and reddish orange, measuring about 2 inches in length. The female moth differs so little from the caterpillar that it is hardly worth noticing, but the active winged male, with a wing expanse of about 2 inches, has the head and thorax thickly clothed with bright reddish orange down, and the dusky wings are lightly clothed with fine scales. Though the moth is a somewhat rare insect, the bag cocoon can be often found on a twig or attached to a fence, for in spite of the large house they carry they are great travellers. The Faggot Case-moth, Entometa ignoblis, forms a very different kind of portable home; the silken sack is covered with a coat of stout sticks which are generally cut from the gum trees and laid parallel to each other, and closely fastened to the silken surface, so that it reminds one of a bundle of faggots. They vary much in size and length; the larger measures up to 3 inches; one stick will be often found projecting an inch or more beyond the others; this is said to be a resting place for the male moth when seeking the enclosed female. She is of the usual obese form; of a general brown tint, the head and thorax creamy white spotted with black. The male moth with a wing expanse of 1¼ inches is of a uniform brown colour. The Leaf Case-moth, Thyridopteryx hubneri, forms a shorter oval silken sack averaging about 2½ inches in length and broad in proportion, covered with different kinds of leaves, for they feed on many shrubs and trees; but the commonest are clothed with bits of gum leaves attached only on the upper edge, and might be likened to a rag mat. When they infest pine trees in the garden, they are uniformly clothed with short lengths of pine needles and have a much neater appearance. The caterpillar is a stout black grub with the head and thorax dull white, mottled with brown. The male moth is a pretty little creature, with reddish brown antennae, the body thickly clothed with black down; the wings have very few scales, and are almost transparent, with a slight blotch in the centre of the hind pair.

The Ribbed Case-moth, Thyridopteryx herrichii, differs from the others in constructing a smooth white silken bag, oval in form, angled on the sides, and with a slender tail at the base; and the long attenuated neck forms a regular stalk when attached to the twig; it measures about 2 inches, and is never covered with sticks or leaves. The caterpillar is blackish brown with the head and first thoracic segment lighter coloured. The moth is about 1 inch across the wings, thickly clothed with black hairs, and a reddish orange spot behind the thorax; the wings are semitransparent, with very few scales.

Family 9. Cup or Slug Moths.
LIMACODIDAE.

These are moderate sized moths with plump bodies thickly clothed with shaggy hairs, retracted heads, and toothed antennae. The caterpillars are curious short stout slug-like creatures feeding on the surface of the foliage; their feet are almost obsolete, while the under surface is quite flat, soft and fleshy; the whole body rests on the leaf when crawling along like that of a snail. The upper surface is saddle-shaped, with the two extremities raised and ornamented with fleshy spiny tubercles, with little bunches of sharp retractile spines like rosettes, which can be withdrawn into the tubercle or erected at will; the spines are sharp and appear to be hollow, and give a smart sting if they touch the body; in some of the American species, the stinging sensation is so severe as to cause serious swellings. When full grown they spin curious egg-shaped, brown, parchment-like cocoons attached at the base to the twig, with the apex rounded and forming a circular cap or lid, which, closely cemented on, is loosened and pushed off by the enclosed moth when she emerges. They do not pupate as soon as the cocoon is finished, but remain for a long time in a semi-caterpillar state before the chrysalis is formed.

The Painted Cup Moth, Limacodes longerans, is one of our commonest species. The female is about 1¾ inches across the wings; has a very large abdomen; is of a general dull brownish tint; the head and thorax are slightly coloured with red, and the under surface dark brown, the wings chocolate brown, with the outer margins light brown. The much smaller male has semitransparent wings, with the head and thorax marked with bright red. The larvae feed on eucalypts and are of a delicate green colour and of the typical form; about 1 inch in length; with four large tubercles at each end carrying a rosette of retractile red spines; the centre is marked with red and blue, and the outer margins are fringed with short tubercles. They form regular oval cocoons generally attached on their sides to the twig or bark. The Mottled Cup Moth, Doratifera vulnerans, is another common species, the larvae of which sometimes attack the foliage of apricot trees. It is a larger slug caterpillar than the last, with a patch of bright yellow in the middle of the back. The cocoons are pear-shaped with the apex somewhat contracted, showing the lid more distinctly. They sometimes swarm over the bush about Sydney N.S. Wales. The moths are of a general reddish brown tint with the fore wings marbled in the centre with a redder shade; the hind wings are lighter brown; they are somewhat smaller than the last species.

Doratifera quadriguttata is of a dull reddish tint; the fore wings are crossed with a row of 3 darker raised spots, the hind wings being much lighter: the female measures about 1¼ inches, the male somewhat smaller. The larvae, when young, cluster together up to a dozen in number, and feed on the under-side of the leaf, but when full grown they scatter about, destroying much of the foliage of the gum trees. Numbers were collected near Gosford N.S.W. about the end of February. They are short and broad, black, with a pair of dull yellow fleshy horns in front, and 4 tubercles surmounted with bunches of yellow spines tipped with black at each extremity; the centre of the flattened back has rows of short yellow spines with a fringe of similar ones round the outer margins. When full grown they form the usual egg-shaped brown cocoon.

D. acasta is a very similar moth, with a row of 6 or more similar spots crossing the fore wings. The larvae feed in the same manner, and are very plentiful toward the end of summer in the Bathurst district, N.S.W. Rainbow has figured the larvae of this species in the “Records of the Australian Museum” 1904.

The curious warty, pale green, oval, slug-like caterpillar with a yellow stripe down the centre of the back that is figured by Scott as Apoda xylomeli feeds upon the under surface of the leaves of the waratah; and when at rest along the midrib of the leaf, with the yellow dorsal stripe in line, in spite of its size it is very hard to detect, and is a wonderful instance of protective colouration.

Family 10. Tiger Moths.
ARCTIIDAE.

This family, including the Lithosiidae, known to collectors as “Footmen,” is now one of the largest divisions of the moths that were once all grouped among the true silkworms. The larvae of most of the species are short hairy grubs popularly known as “woolly bears,” feeding on all kinds of low plants, and common in our gardens. In this country they comprise a number of delicate and often very handsome moths of medium size, with moderately long pectinate antennae, the body often large, and the wings brightly coloured. The “Footmen” differ from the “Tiger” moths in having the fore wings longer, more slender, and folded over the shorter, more elongate body; they take their popular name from the livery-like pattern of their markings, as the latter take theirs from the tiger-like stripes and spots; while others again are known as “Ermine” moths from their soft silken wings.

The Genus Tigriodes contains a number of small moths hiding under or among foliage and therefore not often noticed. Tigriodes alterna is of a uniform yellowish brown tint, with darker brown markings upon the thorax and wings, forming zig-zag lines across the fore pair, and clouding the hind ones. It measures about 1 inch across the wings and ranges from Victoria into New South Wales. T. furcifera is slightly smaller, of a bright yellow on the fore wings, with three slender parallel stripes separating into finer lines at the extremities; the hind pair paler with traces of black lines toward the edges; there is a wedge-shaped patch of the same colour on the thorax. Another species common about Sydney N.S.W. is T. heminephes, pale orange yellow with the apical edges of the wings and thorax blotched with blackish brown.

Among the “Footmen” we have in the Genus Spilosoma a number of fine white to greyish brown moths, mottled with blackish spots and dashes. The Light Ermine, Spilosoma obliqua, is common in Victoria and N.S. Wales; it has a wing measurement of 2 inches; is of a uniform dull white, lightly mottled over the wings with dark brown spots, some of them forming a slender irregular transverse band across; the abdomen is red with a dorsal stripe of black dots. Spilosoma fulvohirta is about the same size, but much more darkly and thickly marked with brown, also forming dark stripes on the thorax. Spilosoma fuscinula is a much smaller moth, slightly over 1 inch across the wings; it has a general rich pink tint, very variably spotted and blotched with black; the latter is sometimes quite the predominating colour, in others only marking the tips; the hind wings are spotted in the centre and on the hind margins only. The larvae are short, flattish, hairy grubs of a reddish colour, and feed upon the foliage of young gum trees.