1904.] eg 



The wandering Anosla plexippns, L. (Ddiirris nrcliippus, F:\.h.), may- 

 be regarded as being tolerably well naturalized in the warmer parts 

 of New Zealand, thougli it is nowhere very commou, and I never saw 

 it myself. It seeraa to have been first observed in the Islands as far 

 back as the end of the year 1S40 (F. W. Sturm, Trans. N.Z. Inst., x, 

 p. 265), nearly at the same date when, as I was informed, it made its 

 first appearance in the Marquesas Islands (cf. Ent. Mo. Mag., ser. 1, 

 Vol. xxii, p. 219). Another conspicuous butterfly, IlypoUmnas 

 bolina, L., occurs, usually in worn condition, as a rare straggler from 

 the Pacific Islands or from Tropical Australia. A more unexpected 

 visitor is our own " Red Admiral," Pyrameis atnlanta, L., of which a 

 specimen is reported to have been taken in 1881, in the Botanical 

 Gardens at Wellington, by Mr. T. W. Kirk, who subsequently saw 

 several more (Kirk, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xvi, p. 550). When I was 

 last at Wellington in March, 1903, Mr. Hudson showed me a specimen 

 of P. atalanta, unset and in quite good condition, which he had just 

 received from Orepuki, on the west coast of the South Island. As 

 far as I am aware, the nearest locality to New Zealand where 

 P. atalanta is found is the Sandwich Islands, to which it has spread 

 from North America and become naturalized ; but even the powerful 

 flight and known migratory tendencies of this butterfly appear 

 altogether inadequate to carry it unaided over the 4,000 miles of 

 almost unbroken ocean which separate the tw^o localities from one 

 another, and it is most difiicult to account for its undoubted occur- 

 rence at so remote a spot as Orepuki. 



The Neuroptera, Hyrnenoptera, and Diptcra include a few fine 

 and conspicuous insects, and among the Orthoptera the large apterous 

 crickets of the family Stenopelmatida;, called " Weta " by the Maoris, 

 deserve especial mention for the great size and formidable appear- 

 ance of some of the species. The largest of all, the " Weta-punga" 

 Deinacrida heteracantha, White, was once not rare north of Auckland, 

 but is now nearly or quite extinct on the mainland, having been, it is 

 reported, exterminated by the introduced rats. It is still to be found 

 on the Little Barrier Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, which is fortunately 

 reserved by the New Zealand Govei'nment as a sanctuary for the 

 indigenous fauna and flora. Another s2)ecies, almost as large and even 

 more truculent in appearance, is Hemideina meqacephala, Buller, 

 which is common under logs, &c., at Wellington and elsewhere, and is 

 conspicuous from the enormous development of the head and 

 mandibles in the ^ . These huge crickets are very savage, and can 

 give a severe bite if incautiously handled. The Hemiptera are 



