122 [June, 



{cf., Mathew, Entomologist, Vol. xvii, p. 220), and is quite easy to 

 find ; but searching the plants resulted in so many stings, that I 

 adopted the method of gently stirring the foliage of the Urtica with 

 a stick at arm's length over the umbrella, when the caterpiUars 

 tumbled out readily enough. They vary greatly in colour, from very 

 pale to dark greenish-grey, and the lighter-coloured ones, especially 

 when about half-grown, bear a striking resemblance to the broken-off 

 leaf-stalks of the nettle, with their bristling array of pale spines. A 

 few pupse were found attached to the nettle leaves, and 1 bred a very 

 fine series of the butterfly in January, the duration of the chrysalis 

 stage being about three weeks. 



The bright and lively little " copper," Chrysoplianus salustius, Fab., 

 appears on the wing early in November very commonly, and frequents 

 the flowers of Sisymhrium, white clover, and other weeds growing 

 along the roadsides. A second brood of smaller and darker speci- 

 mens comes out in March, but is much less numerous than the earlier 

 one. Its congener, C. enysii, Butl., is much less generally distri- 

 buted, but I found it commonly on the road between Lyttelton and 

 Sumner, in November, 1901. It is partial to the greenish-white 

 flowers of a climbing species of MiiehJenheckia, and its rich dark 

 appearance readily distinguishes it from Q. salustius when flying. I 

 have bred G. enysii in March from a small pea-green onisciform larva 

 found on the common sorrel, Rumex acetosa. Lyccena oxleyi, Feld., a 

 small but distinct species, is taken in the same situations, but is by no 

 means common. 



I made two excursions, in November and March respectively, to 

 Kakaia, thirty-six miles by rail south of Christchurch. It is a small 

 town situated on the river of the same name, the shingle bed of which 

 is a very characteristic piece of South Island scenery. The Rakaia, 

 a rapid torrent of considerable volume as it issues from the central 

 mountain-range, flows south-eastwards through the Canterbury Plains 

 in a level expanse, a mile or more in width, of blown sand, gravel, 

 shingle, and boulders as big as one's head or larger, the shingle pre- 

 dominating. In most parts of this river-bed there is a fair amount of 

 dwarf vegetation of a very peculiar and interesting character, com- 

 peting with the imported furze, broom, and the American Lupinus 

 luteus, which last has been extensively planted on the sandy seashores, 

 and is spreading rapidly. My chief object in visiting Eakaia was to 

 obtain the very local and distinct Gicindela wakefieldi, Bates, but on 

 the first occasion it did not put in an appearance. However, I took a 



