426 Transactions. 



Adult female elongate-ovate, being equally rounded at both extremities ; 

 colour pink, turning bright green on maceration in potash. Segmenta- 

 tion very distinct. Body covered with minute wrinkles. Eyes in living 

 insects very prominent, and appear as large dark granulated spots. 

 Kudimentary antennae with two or three rather long hairs. Rostrum rather 

 more chitinized than is usually found in the Diaspinae ; mentum appearing 

 as a round ring. Spiracles widely dilated at outer extremity and tapering 

 inward to a small round orifice. Parastigmatic glands absent. Pygidium 

 broader than long, slightly chitinized, with 5 groups of circumgential glands ; 

 anterior group 6-8 glands ; anterior laterals 16-18 ; posterior laterals 

 18-24 ; anterior group widely separated from the rest ; lateral groups 

 almost joining. Anal orifice situate midway between anterior lateral 

 groups. Margin of pygidium with a crenulate appearance, without lobes 

 or large marginal tubular spinnerets. Dorsal tubular spinnerets in series ; 

 the first six series are immediately beneath the grouped glands, and each 

 consists of from 6 to 8 spinnerets, extending directly upwards towards the 

 grouped glands ; the next series on each side extends upwards along the 

 outer side of the circumgenital glands to a level with the anterior group. 

 Each segment above has numerous tubular spinnerets at the outer margin, 

 and on each articulation there is a series of rather larger spinnerets ex- 

 tending directly in towards the body ; there are also a few spinnerets on 

 the lower half of the cephalic segment. Above the antennae there are a 

 few short spiny hairs. 



Length, about 1-08 mm ; width, 0-54 mm. 



Hah. — On Leptocarpus sp., at present only from New Brighton. 



Note. — The genus Odonaspis has not hitherto been recorded as occurring 

 in New Zealand. 



Art. XLV. — New Light on the Period of the Extinction of the Moa (according 



to Maori Record). 



By T. W. DowNBS. 

 [Read before the Wanganui Philosophical Society, 26th January, 1916.] 



It would be hard to find anything connected with the natm-al history of 

 New Zealand that has attracted more attention than the extinct moa. 

 Over seventy papers, containing several hundred pages of matter, have 

 been published in the " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," and 

 of this matter a large portion deals with the period of extinction ; yet the 

 date is by no means settled, and I have no doubt that any additional light 

 that will assist in arriving at a solution of this much-discussed question 

 will be welcomed by those 'who are interested in the subject. 



Arguments relating to this discussion have been carefully studied and 

 summarized by F. W. Hutton in a fine paper entitled " The Moas of 

 New Zealand " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 24, p. 93), and the writer, after 

 careful deliberation, comes to the conclusion that in the North Island the 

 moa was exterminated by the Maori not very long after their arrival in 

 New Zealand— that is, not less than four or five hundred years ago— and 

 that they existed for about one hundred years later in the South Island. . 



Among the gentlemen who held a contrary view — namely, that the moa 

 was exterminated in quite recent years — I would mention J. W. Hamilton,. 

 J. and W. Murison, J. H. Coburn, James Hector, John White, W. T. L. 



