1903.] 141 



broken, black subdorsal stripe ; epiraeular stripe yellowish-white ; under-surface 

 tinged with ))iiik ; side tufts of hairs orange-brown ; feet orange-yellow. Pupa 

 very compact, bluntly rounded bcliind, creniasler hardly perceptible —a niiiiule 

 point ; general colour glossy red-brown ; hinder segments rattier blacker. In a 

 thin tightly-fitting cocoon of dull yellow silk ; among rubbish on the ground. The 

 moth is closely allied to Spi/osoma—esiiccmUy to S. lubricipeda, though its 

 antennae are smaller — wings pale ochrcous or pale yellow, without markings ; the 

 abdomen ricli yellow, with dorsal and lateral series of deep black bars.] 



Ccenobasis am<ena, Feld. — " After I had packed your box I opened it again to 

 put in a lovely little green moth, with the smooth egg-like cocoon from which it had 

 just emerged. The lid was hanging to the cocoon, but dropped off in the packing. 

 These cocoons arc not easy to find until after the moth has emerged, being streaked 

 with greyish-green like a bird's-egg ; afterwards they bleach white and become very 

 conspicuous ; there are many empty cocoons to be seen." 



[These cocoons are quite as round, and as smooth as a bird's-egg, about the size 

 of the egg of a wren or titmouse ; and are fixed firmly to the side of a twig of 

 Mimosa, upon the tree — hence their conspicuous appearance when white and 

 bleached. Of those before me some are streaked and shaded with brown. To 

 enable the moth to emerge a lid is thrust off, perfectly rounded and smooth-edged, 

 and probably cut from the inside. In emergence the limb and antenna covers are 

 partially detached, and fill the opening with a confusion of fragments of a shining 

 light chestnut-brown. The moth, a pretty Limacodid, is robust, the thorax vivid 

 green with yellow patches at the back ; the fore-wings short, rather broad, bright 

 green, with a white cloudy stripe running down each of the three principal 

 nervures, and a white shade along the hind margin — which also is sharply dotted 

 with black. Hind-wings rounded, white, with a marginal row of black dots.] 



Later. — 2nd April, 1903. — " I have been greatly interested in these fairy-like 

 little green and white larva; up among the leaves in the Mimosa-trees at night. I 

 was searching for the larva of Sphingomorpha when I found the first of these. One 

 was high up in the Mimosa, but I got a crooked stick, and pulling the branch down, 

 secured the prize. By diligent searching I found two more in the same tree, and 

 close by, the little hard cocoons, evidently just formed. These cocoons are common, 

 but no one of us had ever seen the beautiful larvae before. I think that they hide 

 in the daytime, and that their close resemblance to the foliage aids them. Then 

 they remain very quietly in one place, and feed only at night. I found the first just 

 at Christmas, and in less than a week they had spun their cocoons. I saw one of 

 my captives just in the act, it was of a lovely pale green, but turned brown in the 

 course of the next day. All these spun upon the same twig. From the cocoons 

 which I gathered upon the trees I reared five or six of the moths, and let them bang 

 about under a glass shade, to see whether I could secure any eggs, so of course they 

 spoiled themselves ; but presently I found long trails like fir-needles on the glass, 

 mostly grouped together, but one which stood alone was 3^ inches long. Very 

 shortly there were tiny black larvae upon the glass, and I thought that I should 

 succeed in rearing them, but only one survived, and it was dwarfed. It has spun 

 up, but not a perfect cocoon. I cannot give you a notion how lovely the little 

 caterpillars are when alive. 1 sketched two which I caught just lately, at the end 



