460 Transactions. 



Dehiscence. 



Exactly the same as in P. panacitorsens and all the other Panax 

 Parectopas. There is here no external evidence of any prepared exit from 

 the cocoon, but the pupa always emerges at the uppermost end, and here 

 also with its ventral appendages outermost. 



This moth is a favourite prey to parasites, two species having been 

 reared but not yet identified — in fact, quite 90 per cent, of all the Panax 

 Parectopas are destroyed by these parasitic Hymenoptera. Usually there 

 is but a single parasite to each post ; this parasite constructs its small 

 cylindrical cocoon within that of its host, and later emerges through a 

 circular outlet gnawed in the upper end of the latter structure. 



(6.) Parectopa panacifinens n. sp. (The Panax Marginal and Central 



Moth). (Plate XXX, fig. 6.) 



The Imago. 



2, TO mm. ; ^, 8 mm. Head whitish with a dorsal streak of fuscous ; 

 palpi whitish, with apex of second joint and a well-defined subap'cal ring 

 on terminal joint black ; antennae fuscous. Thorax light fuscous with a 

 fairly broad central line of darker fuscous, and on either side a narrow 

 rather obscure dorso-lateral line of dark fuscous. Abdomen grey-black 

 legs whitish ringed with black. Fore wings brown ifrorated with black 

 markings white, the black irrorations being somewhat denser on their 

 margins ; a narrow slightly wavy streak of white along dorsum from near 

 base to f , interrupted by a small patch of brown about | (this white streak 

 is more pronounced in the male) ; three distinct short outwardly-oblique 

 white lines from costa at -J-, ^, §. the outermost one being the narrowest 

 and longest, the centre one the most conspicuous and almost square ; a 

 narrow outwardly-concave transverse bar of white near apex, broadest 

 against the costa ; cilia fuscous with a distinct black line. Hindwings and 

 cilia fuscous. 



Distribution. 



Numerous on Mount Egmont at 3,000 ft. Pupae are to be obtained 

 during November and December, the imagos appearing in January. Also 

 found in the Bush Reserve on Flagstaff Hill, Dunedin, in November, the 

 imagos emerging early in December. 



Food- plant. 

 Nothopanax arhoreum (whauwhaupaku) . 



The Mine. 



The egg is laid on the upper surface of the leaf, generally near the midrib. 

 The mine is a simple gallery, white in colour, on the upper surface of the 

 leaf ; increases in width very gradually to about 2 mm. ; its total length is 

 about 16 in. ; its character is very constant, and altogether it is a most 

 conspicuous object. The larva on hatching burrows immediately into the 

 leaf, and heads in in more or less of a straight line till the margin or midrib 

 of the leaf is encountered, after which this obstacle is closely followed. 

 Out of several hundred examined, no cases showfd any tendency on the 

 part of the newly hatched larva to mine in a spiral, as in the case of 

 P. aellomacha. Its course invariably takes it close around the greater 

 portion or entire margin of the leaf, closely follo'WT.ng the digitations and 



