Dendy. — Life-history of the Tuatara. 249 



Oxyethira albiceps. 



Ei/droptila albiceps, McLachlan, Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 



1862, p. 4. Oxyethira albiceps, Eaton, Trans. Ent. Soc. 



London, 1873, p. 145 (?) : Hudson, Trans. N.Z. Inst. 



vol. 18, p. 213 ; Man. N.Z. Entomology, p. 99, pi. 14, 



fig. 3. 



Male. — Antennee grey, faintly annulated with darker; head 

 clothed with dense greyish-white pubescence. Thorax fus- 

 cous. Abdomen brown above, silvery beneath. Legs pale- 

 grey. Anterior wings dark greyish-fuscous, irrorated with 

 pale-grey, the extreme apex conspicuously whitish. Posterior 

 wings pale-grey, the cilia concolorous. Length of the body, 

 2 mm. ; expanse of wings, 5 mm. 



Locality. — New Zealand {Dale); Wellington (Hudson). 



Aet. XXIV. — The Life-history of the Tuatara (Sphenodou 



punctatum) . 



By Arthur Dendy, D.Sc, Professor of Biology in the 

 Canterbury College, University of New Zealand. 



[Read before the Pliilosovhical Institute of Canterbury, 22nd February, 



ll899.] 



The results of my researches on the development of the 

 Tuatara having been sent to England for publication,* it has 

 been thought desirable to print a short account of the hfe- 

 history of this remarkable animal in the " Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute," in the hope that it may prove of 

 interest to the members. 



In 1896 I succeeded in making arrangements with Mr. P. 

 Henaghan, then principal keeper on Stephens Island, in Cook 

 Strait, for obtaining a supply of eggs, and, thanks to the un- 

 tiring zeal displayed by my correspondent in the interests of 

 science, these arrangements proved eminently successful. Mr. 

 Henaghan also furnished me with very valuable information 



* " Summary of the Principal Results obtained in a Study of the 

 Tuatara (Sjihenodon imnctatum) ." —("■ Proceedings of the Royal Society 

 of London," vol. 6.3, 1898.) 



"Outlines of the Development of the Tuatira [Sphenodon (Hatteria) 

 punctatum)." — (" Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science " : In the 

 Press.) 



" On the Development of the Parietal Eye and Adjacent Organs in 

 Sphenodon (Hatteria)." — ("Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science": 

 In the Press.) 



