260 ON THE BAG-SHELTERS OF THE GENUS TEARA. 



remained huddled together in a hairy mass, unless disturbed, 

 when they would all set off in a procession round the walls of 

 their prison, one behind the other, often keeping it up for hours 

 too-ether. In about a fortnight they began to burrow into the 

 loose sand at the bottom of the jar, constructing soft felted 

 cocoons out of the hairs upon their bodies. The pupae were stout 

 and short, smooth, shining, of a reddish-brown colour, with the 

 anterior portion small and the tip of the abdomen curved 

 upwards. The first moths emerged about the end of September, 

 and the last two months later; but from the fifty specimens not 

 more than eight moths were obtained. 



The moths vary considerably in size; the male about 2 inches 

 across the wings, and the female often over 2| inches; they are of 

 a general dark brown colour, with a small oval white spot in the 

 centre of the forewings; and a very small and indistinct one in 

 the hind ones. The head and thorax are thickly clothed with 

 long brown hairs, bright yellow and lance-shaped at the tips; the 

 upper surface of the abdomen is covered with bright reddish- 

 orange barred with black at the apex of each segment, and tipped 

 with hairs of the same colour. The moths are very difficult to 

 breed, those mentioned being the first I have obtained in four 

 seasons. Mr. E. Anderson, of Melbourne, to whom I am in- 

 debted for the identification of the moth, tells me that he knows 

 no other instance of success in breeding them, though the larvfe 

 are common in Victoria and New South Wales. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Teara contraria, Walk. 



Fig. \. — Larva. 



Fig. 2. — Pupa in cocoon. 



Fig. 3.— Moth. 



Ficr. 4. — Rougli sketch showing bag shelter formed at the base of a- 



tree stem. 

 Figs. 5-6. — Forms of bag shelters made by lai va? of Teara spp. 



