250 Transactions. — Zoology. 



theui thus than to arrange humuli, followed by wood-borers, 

 and again by subterranean feeders, as is done, I believe, in 

 the British Museum collection. 



Hepialidcz appear to be remarkably uniform in the ovum 

 stage ; the size of the ovum varies between species, being 

 smaller or larger by comparison. G. virescens ova are rather 

 large ; but all are smooth and spherical, and when extruded 

 are yellowish or whitish, and afterwards turn black in colour. 

 All the species of various genera of Hepialidce of which I have 

 knowledge agree in this respect. 



No descriptions have as yet been published of newly 

 hatched Charagia larvae. I very much desire to obtain fertile 

 ova for this purpose, having always failed hitherto, and the 

 newly hatched stage is calculated to furnish evidence of 

 affinity of greater value than the adult larva. 



Mr. E. Illidge and myself have examined larvae at a more 

 advanced stage of several species, and there is remarkable 

 uniformity — -1 may say almost identity — of structure between 

 Australasian Charagia and virescens of New Zealand, which 

 have abundant specific distinction in the imago stage. It is 

 not necessary to detail the larval structure of Charagia, this 

 having been done in our paper on Australasian wood-boring 

 Hepialidcs,* but for the purpose of this paper a note may be 

 made that the prothorax has an anterior dorsal series of 

 equidistant setae, a mid-lateral scutellar concavity enclosing in 

 virescens three setae when young, one only in adult larvae, 

 with always a single seta below the concavity ; spiracle en- 

 larged and posterior ; a lower anterior tubercle bears two 

 setae. The abdominal segments have normal single-seta 

 trapezoidal tubercles ; supraspiracular tubercle has two setae ; 

 spiracle anterior ; two subspiracular single-seta tubercles a 

 little below posterior almost in line with each other ; an 

 anterior single-seta tubercle ; and four setae on base of the 

 abdominal feet. Of these the prothoracic scutellar concavity 

 appears to be peculiar to Charagia, the other features being 

 more or less typical of all Hepialidce. 



Mr. Hudson mentions! that young larvae (how young ?) are 

 olive-green in colour. I have examined many larvae from 

 about fin. in length without seeing this form, all being 

 normal in colour and practically so in structure with more 

 adult larvae — i.e., yellowish or reddish. Amongst others, I 

 once took a larva about l^in. in length which differed re- 

 markably from the normal — an undoubted Hepialid from 

 tubercle structure, a Charagia from prothoracic scutellar 

 concavity, and almost certainly virescens, since this is the 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland, 1900. 

 t " New Zealand Macro-lepidoptera." 



