300 HABITS AND EARLIER STAGES OF CRYPTOPHASA UNIPUNCTATA, 



NOTES ON THE HABITS AND EARLIER STAGES OF 

 CRYFTOPHASA VNIPUNCTATA, DON. 



By Henry Edwards. 

 (Communicated by A. Sidney OlUff.) 



One of the most singular instances cf the change of habits in a 

 species of Lepidoptera that has come under my notice is to be 

 found in that of the insect referred to in the present article. As 

 far back as 1858, I was fully acquainted with the species, and 

 raised a considerable number to the imago state. It was then 

 only to be found on the black wattle. Acacia decurrens, the larva 

 burrowing into the stems and younger branches, but, as far as my 

 observations went, never attacking the trunk or the larger arms of 

 the tree. It was not unusual to find sj)ecimens in the very early 

 morning, {i.e., at 5 or 6 a.m.) at rest upon the leaves of the wattle, 

 but later in the day they hid themselves from the sunlight, 

 and were very rarely met with. On my return to the colonies, 

 during the past summer, I was led to observe that many fruit 

 trees in the garden of the Hon. George Coppin, at Richmond, 

 near Melbourne, had been attacked by some pest, and were 

 rapidly approaching destruction. Close investigation displayed 

 the fact that some burrows had been made in the trees, somewhat 

 similar to those of the Oossido}, the entrance to these burrows 

 being artfully concealed by a small cap of fragments of wood and 

 bark, so closely cemented together as to appear like a portion of 

 the bark itself. Upon cutting down one of the diseased branches, 

 and splitting it open, I found that the burrow passed almost at 

 right angles to the very heart of the branch, and thence downward 

 for a space of 15 or 16 inches. At the bottom of this burrow I 

 found a full-grown larva, which, when disturbed, wriggled itself 

 about with very rapid movements, crawling up and down its 

 burrow with surprising quickness. Below the home of the first 

 insect noted was another burrow of 1 2 inches in depth, and in this 



