Juno, 1904.] J^2l 



produces not rai-ely, among many other small beetles, tlie lovely little 

 Longicorn Zorion castum, Br., a perfect little gem in dark shining 

 blue armour varied with golden-orange ; and Onstrosarus nigricollis. 

 Bates, a rare and curious member of the same group, turned up on 

 one occasion almost in the town. The small yellow flowers of the 

 " Spaniard," Aciphijlla squarrosa, a quaint spiny resinous-scented 

 Umbellifer, usually swarm with small forms allied to Dimjfes,o.\\A with 

 the olive-grey weevil Cyttnlia dispar, Br. ; the blue Telephorid-looking 

 Heteromeron Selenopalpus cyaneus, Fab., occurring more rarely. Dry 

 carcases of sheep, which are not infrequent on the hill-tops yield the 

 usual Creophilus oculatus, Fab., Epurcea antarctica. White, and our 

 Omosita colon, L., and Necrohia rufipes, De (t., in abundance ; the fine 

 Quedius antipodum, Sharp, is much more rare, and on one occasion 

 only I met with our Carcinops 14i-sfriata, Steph. 



At Sumner and New Brighton, two favourite little watering- 

 places within easy reach of Christchurch, are fine sandy beaches on 

 which some interesting beetles arc found. Pachi/lopus Jepidulus, Br., 

 Actizeta albata, Pasc, Lagrioida brouni, Pasc, and two species of 

 Phycosecis occur more or less commonly under dead birds and fish, 

 and among the littoral w^eevils are two species {alternata, Broun, 

 and discors, Broun) of the Hypera-W^Q genus Gecyropa ; Pliilacta 

 maculifera, Broun., like a pallid Er'irrhinus in aspect ; and the little 

 rugose testaceous-red Aphela pictipes, Broun. All these four, de- 

 tected for the first time by myself, occur under seaweed, &c., at 

 (and sometimes below) high^tide mark, and in the loose sand at the 

 roots of the maritime rush DesmoschcBnus spiralis. 



Some of the indigenous butterflies are more plentiful at Lyttelton 

 than the appearance of the locality would lead one to expect, and this 

 is especially the case with Pyrameis gonerilla, Fab. This beautiful 

 insect, the Antipodean representative of our P. atalanta, resembles it 

 greatly in flight and habits, and may be seen on the wing almost 

 throughout the year. Specimens in quite fine condition occur even in 

 July (mid-winter) but it is in its prime in February and March ; and 

 in December, the larvje in almost any number may be collected from 

 the foliage of their food-plant, Urtica ferox. This is, as its name 

 would suggest, a particularly formidable member of its genus, and is a 

 shrub often six feet high, with a woody stem as thick as one's arm, 

 the leaves and their stalks densely set with whitish spines rather than 

 hairs, possessed of most pronounced stinging powers. The larva of 

 P. gonerilla, like that of its English relative, inhabits a little tent 

 formed by drawing three or four leaves of its food-plant together 



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