Marriner. — On Epirranthis alectoraria. 147 



t. X. — Description of the Caterpillar of Epirranthis 



alectoraria. 



By George R. Marriner. 



Communicated by Professor Dendy. 



{Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd October, 



1900.] 



Plate VI. 



This caterpillar was found on the matipo hedges (Pittosporum 

 tenuifolium) around Christchurch in large numbers about 

 April, 1900. The full-grown larva is about 1 in. in length, 

 with the body narrowest at segments 4 and 5, and thickest at 

 segments 7 and 8. It consists of the head and 13 segments. 



The colour is of a bright-green, dotted all over with pale- 

 yellow spots, larger and more numerous on the dorsal surface, 

 but smaller and fewer as they approach the ventral surface. 

 Along the middle of the dorsal surface there is a fairly thick 

 and very conspicuous bluish-red line, sometimes continuous 

 from end to end or more or less broken, while at the joints 

 between the segments the line is thickened. More con- 

 spicuous in the middle segments, but less so in the anterior 

 and posterior segments, are thin but well-marked pale-yellow 

 diagonal lines, thickest near the middle dorsal line, but be- 

 come fainter as they approach the ventral surface, where a 

 pale-yellow line runs from the 4th segment backwards. 



The head is small, and narrower than the 1st segment, 

 with five or six pairs of ocelli, arranged in a group on each 

 side of the head. 



Segments 1, 2, and 3 have each a pair of well-developed 

 legs. Segments 1 and 4 to 11 have each a pair of spiracles. 

 Neither of the segments 9 or 10 has a pair of fleshy pads, 

 termed "prolegs" or "abdominal legs," but one pair situated 

 at the junction of the two segments, and supplied with a half- 

 circle of hooks on their inner surfaces. Segment 13 has a 

 pair of abdominal legs, but they are modified to form flap-like 

 claspers, being flattened along the line of the body, with the 

 hooks on the anterior end of the claspers ; there is also a tail- 

 like projection at the extremity of the segment. The legs, 

 claspers, and the tail-like projection are more or less coloured 

 a bluish-red, corresponding to the dark colour of the matipo- 

 branch. 



The young larvae are not so thick in proportion to their 

 length, nor are the spots and diagonal lines so well marked as 

 in the full-grown larva. The larvae, after feeding voraciously 



