226 Transactions. — Zoology. 



of the jaws. Spiracles immediately behind the eyes, which 

 are very minute, and hardly traceable under the skin. An 

 electric apparatus between the head and pectoral fins. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES X.-XII. 

 Plate X. 

 Astrape aysoni, n. sp. 



Plate XL 

 Astrape aysoni, head. 



Plate XII. 



Astrape aysoni, under-surface : fig. a from live specimen ; fig. b from 

 spirit specimen ; fig. c, tail. 



Art. XXV.- — Embryology of Neiv Zealand Lepidoptera : 



Part II. 



By Ambrose Quail, F.E.S. 



\Head before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 11th February, 



1902.'] 



Plate XIII. (See also pi. ix., vol. xxxiii.) 



Embryology in interest supersedes the pleasures of collecting 

 and preserving specimens in the imago stage, and enhances 

 the scientific value of the Lepidoptera in entomology. Breed- 

 ing insects is a means towards an end — good specimens to the 

 collector. On the other hand, the desire of the student is to 

 know what can be iearnt of structure, habits, and so forth. 

 I know prominent embryologists in England who, after devot- 

 ing great attention to breeding and hybridizing species, hand 

 over the resulting imagines to some collector friends. 



Probably most collectors would at once kill and set a 

 female specimen of any scarce or rare species, if in perfect 

 condition, but an embryological student would almost cer- 

 tainly try and procure ova. Such a case I well remember. 

 A party of several entomologists were at the New Forest, 

 England, and my friend Mr. Arthur Bacot took a freshly 

 emerged female of a scarce species — Peridea trepida, I think — 

 which he decided to keep until night and try to assemble 

 some males. Any other of the party would have killed it at 

 once, on the principle of " a bird in the hand is worth two 

 in the bush." That evening, before sugar commenced, we 

 hung her ladyship like a songster in a cage, from a branch of 



