Part 26

This insect varies a good deal in the ground colouring of the fore-wings, which ranges from dull yellow to brick-red, or even to dark yellowish-brown. The hind-wings are also much darker in some specimens than in others.

The larva feeds on the seeds and flowers of various plants. It is extremely variable in its colouring.

Some specimens are dull green, with a few obscure red spots on the sides of the anterior segments. Others are brownish-black, with many fine yellow stripes and dots, and the red spots confined to the three anterior segments. Others, again, have numerous olive-green, white, and pale green lines, with a reddish blotch on the side of nearly every segment.

This caterpillar is often rather destructive in gardens. Amongst other things, it devours tomatoes and peas, the flowers and young fruit of pumpkins and vegetable marrows, the flowers and leaves of geraniums, veronicas, &c. It is full grown in the autumn.

The pupa is concealed in the earth, the insect remaining in this condition until the following summer.

{33}The moth appears in January and February. It often flies by day, and may then be seen disporting itself amongst the flowers of the Scotch thistle. Its larva may also be found feeding on these flowers.

This insect is practically cosmopolitan; it has occurred in the following countries: Australia, Samoa, India, Ceylon, Madagascar, Africa, Europe, North and South America.

Genus 12.--COSMODES, Gn.

"Eyes naked. Antennæ in male filiform, shortly ciliated. Thorax with strong transverse anterior and posterior crests. Abdomen strongly crested towards base. Hind-wings with veins 6 and 7 short-stalked."--(Meyrick.)

We have only one species in New Zealand.

COSMODES ELEGANS, Don.

(Phalæna elegans, Don. Ins. N. H. Cosmodes elegans, Gn., Noct. vi. 290; Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 35.)

(Plate VI., fig. 2.)

This beautiful species has occurred at Napier and Ohau in the North Island. In the South Island it has been taken at Christchurch and Governor's Bay.

The expansion of the wings is 1-1/8 inches. The fore-wings are rich orange-brown, with four large green spots margined with silver; there is a curved silvery mark near the apex. The hind-wings are pale yellow, shaded with orange-brown towards the termen; the cilia are pale orange-brown mixed with white.

The perfect insect appears in March and April.

Mr. Meyrick states that it occurs commonly in Eastern Australia.

Family 3.--PLUSIADÆ.

The Plusiadæ are characterized as follows:--

"Ocelli usually distinct. Tongue well developed. Posterior tibiæ with all spurs present. Fore-wings with veins 7 and 8 usually out of 9, 10 usually connected with 9. Hind-wings with veins 3 and 4 connate or short-stalked, 5 well developed, 6 and 7 connate or short-stalked or seldom closely approximated only, 8 shortly anastomosing with cell near base, thence evenly diverging." (See Plate II., figs. 14 to 18.)

"This family is by no means very prominent in temperate regions, but within the tropics it assumes immense proportions, and is there, probably, the most abundant family of the Lepidoptera. There is much greater diversity of size, colour, and form than in the Caradrinidæ, and also more variation in structure, though this remains more uniform than usual. Imago with fore-wings usually relatively broader and less elongate than in the Caradrinidæ, body often more slender.

"Ovum spherical, more or less reticulated, often also ribbed. Larva with few hairs, sometimes with prolegs on segments 7 and 8 absent or rudimentary. Pupa usually in a cocoon above the ground."--(Meyrick.)

The family is represented in New Zealand by the following four genera:--

Sub-family 1.--HYPENIDES 1. HYPENODES.

{2. PLUSIA. Sub-family 2.--PLUSIADES {3. DASYPODIA. {4. RHAPSA.

{34}Sub-family 1.--HYPENIDES.

Vein 5 of hind-wings parallel to 4.

Genus 1.--HYPENODES, Gn.