clviii FAUNA HAWAIIENSIS 



Oahu to other of the islands. The moth, first noticed in 1900 as a great rarity, is now 

 common in Honolulu, coming to the lights at night. Nomophila nochiella is probably a 

 natural and not infrequent immigrant, being abundant locally some years and not noticed 

 at all during others. N'yvipkti/a is either immigrant or more probably introduced. 

 Hynienia recut'va/is is almost the most abundant moth in the islands, and not only occurs 

 on the main islands of the group, but also on the small and far distant outlying ones. 

 Its polyphagous larva is a common prey of various wasps of the genus Odyneriis. Not 

 only foreign weeds and economic plants, but the endemic Nototrichium is riddled by 

 these caterpillars. Locally, remarkable aberrations are met with, but always rarely and 

 exceptionally, and it is questionable whether the supposed second species' of the genus 

 is an extraordinary aberration or really distinct. 



The caterpillars of the genus Ovtiodes have been specially studied by Swezey, who 

 of late years has applied himself to the investigation of the early stages of the native 

 Lepidoptera with great perseverance and success. The larvae of all the species of this 

 genus that are known, with the exception of O. vionogona, feed on monocotyledonous 

 plants. That species is attached to various leguminous plants and frequently quite 

 spoils the appearance of the clumps of ' wiliwili ' trees, that grow in gulches at low 

 elevations in the mountains. Most of the species feed on grasses, sedges, liliaceous 

 plants, palms or bananas. Oiniodes blackburni is responsible for the defoliation of 

 coconut palms throughout the islands. It attacks also various other palms and more 

 rarely the banana. On the latter are found several closely allied species, which, unlike 

 O. blackburni, are restricted to the mountains. It would be premature to state that 

 these banana-feeding species O. meyricki, O. niaia, and O. uiusicola have no other food- 

 plant, but they have not so far been found on others. If it proves that these (and 

 certain other insects) are really restricted to the banana it would strongly influence us in 

 the belief that this plant is a truly native component of the flora and not merely an 

 aboriginal introduction, a belief further strengthened by the fact that one of the most 

 peculiar Hawaiian varieties of banana is said to sometimes produce seed. Another 

 interesting group of species is formed by O. antidoxa and its several allies, but the food- 

 plants are more varied in this group, Liliaceae, Flagellariaceae and Cyperaceae being 

 affected. By far the commonest and most ubiquitous species of the genus are those 

 feeding on grasses, e.g. Omiodes localis, continuatalis, demaratalis and that pest of sugar- 

 cane O. accepta. These are very abundant, and are seen on the wing or are readily 

 disturbed from the herbage, as one walks along in the daytime. Almost all the species 

 of the genus are attracted by light, and some, unless captured this way, or bred from the 

 caterpillars, are not likely to be met with except by the rarest chance. 



Though living in the concealment of retreats, formed by rolling up the leaves of 

 the plants on which they feed, or otherwise hidden, the caterpillars are attacked by 

 many natural enemies. A Pentarthron destroys the eggs of some species and the 



' This or another allied species has now been found on Maui by Mr J. F. Rock. 



