360 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Selidosema rudiata. 



An additional food-plant for the larva of this insect is 

 the wharangi (Brachyglottis repanda). (See " New Zealand 

 Moths and Butterflies," page 83.) 



Gonophylla ophiopa. 



The following is the life-history of this species : The egg 

 is oval, flattened at one end, pale sea-green, covered with 

 numerous very slight hexagonal depressions. It is highly 

 polished, with a large oval depression on each side of its long 

 axis. As the enclosed embryo develops, small irregular red- 

 dish-brown patches appear on the surface of the egg-shell. 



The larva, which feeds on tree-ferns (Dicksonia), is, when 

 full-grown, about 1^-in. in length and of uniform thickness 

 throughout. The general colour is pale rusty-brown with an 

 obscure pale-brown dorsal line, stronger on the thorax and 

 at the commencement of each segment. There are two similar 

 obscure lateral lines. The head is yellow, thickly dotted with 

 dull-red, and the entire larva is thickly dotted with dark- 

 brown dots and clothed with pale-reddish hairs. There are 

 several obscure marks near the spiracular region. 



This larva is very sluggish and grows slowly. It probably 

 emerges from the egg in the autumn, hibernates during the 

 winter, and feeds from September till the middle or end of 

 December. It then finally buries itself in the earth and 

 changes into a pupa, the moth appearing a month or six weeks 

 later. (See '' New Zealand Moths and Butterflies," p. 98.) 



Paradetis porphyrias. 



I find that my report of the occurrence of this species at 

 Wainuiomata, recorded in the " Transactions of the New T 

 Zealand Institute," vol. xxxii., p. 11, is erroneous, having been 

 founded on a mistaken identification. 



Chloroclystis antarctica. 



The larva of this species, which feeds on the common Vero- 

 nica in December, is, when full-grown, about fin. in length, 

 rather attenuated anteriorly, almost uniform, dark reddish- 

 brown, darker on the sides. The head is reddish, and there 

 are traces of several longitudinal lines in younger larvae. 

 Others are dull yellowish-brown, with the lines plainer and 

 the prolegs pale-yellow ; but as the larva is so extremely vari- 

 able a detailed description hardly appears possible. The pupa 

 is enclosed between two leaves of the Veronica, fastened to- 

 gether with silk. The moth emerges at the end of January. 

 (" New Zealand Moths and Butterflies," p. 42.) 



