38 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. II. — On the Appearaiice of Anosia bolina in the Wel- 

 lington District. 



By A. P. BuLLER. 



Communicated through Sir Walter Buller, K.C.M.G., F.E.S. 



{Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 22nd November, 1898.'] 



It will, I am sure, be a matter of interest to entomologists 

 to hear of the appearance of this beautiful species in the Wel- 

 lington District. A tine specimen (male) was taken in the 

 early part of May of this year close to the Papaitonga Lake 

 (which, I may mention, is some two or three miles to the 

 westward of the Ohau Station, on the Wellington and 

 Manawatu hne). A Maori lad noticed it on the wmg, and, 

 being struck by the unusual brilliancy and beauty of the 

 butterfly, gave chase, and succeeded in capturing it. This 

 piece of good luck was, no doubt, due to the fact that it was 

 late in the autumn, and a bitterly cold south-east wind was 

 blowing from the adjacent Tararua Mountains. This had 

 probably a benumbing effect on the butterfly, and limited 

 its powers of flight, for the Maori boy was able to run it 

 down without much difficulty, and on its alighting, with 

 wings erect, effected its capture without in any way damaging 

 the specimen. In his anxiety that I should receive it alive, 

 he kept it imprisoned in a small box for some days, feeding 

 it on moist sugar and honey. 



My father, on a recent trip to the Fiji Islands, captured 

 some twenty or thirty specimens of the South Sea Island type 

 of this butterfly, and he noticed that it was ever on the 

 alert, and so vigorous a flier that to take it on the wing 

 meant a long chase with the net. He observed that it par- 

 ticularly affected the plantations of taro, on the tender 

 leaves of which the larvae may possibly feed. As far as I 

 am aware, this is the first record of its appearance in the 

 Wellington District. The natives, who took a considerable 

 interest in its capture, told me that it was the first of its 

 kind they had seen, and they are, as a general rule, most 

 observant in matters of natural history. 



The Eev. Richard Taylor, in his book, "New Zealand 

 and its Inhabitants " (published in 1855), speaks of " a fine 

 large butterfly " being found in the Middle Island, closely 

 resembling the English " Purple Emperor." In his later 

 edition — 18V — he figures it as Diadema arge, and charac- 

 terizes it as being " the rarest and finest of our butterflies," 

 but makes no further mention of its habitat. 



