228 t October, 



small fofuis of the genus Hypocista flit quietly about in shady spots 

 in the " bush " throughout the summer, and the larger and more 

 boldly marked H. euphemia, Westw., frequents open rocky places. 

 Melanitis leda, L., being almost or quite on the soutbern limit of its 

 distribution, is but rarely met with, and the little sober-looking 

 Ypthima arctous, Fab., though tolerably common, is somewhat local in 

 open grassy places. The most conspicuous of the group is the beau- 

 tiful brown and fulvous Tisiplione {Epinepltile) aheona, Don., which may 

 be found more or less plentifully throughout the summer in damp 

 gullies and watercourses where the food-plant of its larva, the "cutting- 

 grass," Cladium sp. abounds {cf. Mathew, Trans. Ent. Soc, 1888, p. 141). 

 It has a quiet floating flight, and is a very striking object as it sits with 

 expanded wings on the bright green Cladiutn. Heteronympha merope, 

 Fab., Xenica achanta, Don., and X. Mugii, Guer., are all three abun- 

 dant in the "'bush" surrounding Sydney, the first-mentioned appearing 

 early in October, though the females may be found in quite good 

 condition as late as February, long after the other sex has quite 

 disappeared. In the Illawarra district are found the pretty Hetero- 

 nyvipha hanksi, Leach, and the very remarkable H. mirijica, Butler, of 

 which the male {R. diyglesi, Miskin), so closely resembles, in its brown 

 and fulvous coloration, the same sex of H. merope as to be quite in- 

 distinguishable from it on the wing ; while the female, broadly banded 

 with white on a dark sooty-brown ground-colour, is quite unlike any 

 other Australian butterfly. 



Of the numerous " Blues " 1 will here only allude to the beautiful 

 genus Ogyris, three or four species of which, including the finest of 

 all, O. genoveva, Hew., have been taken in the district by Mr. Water- 

 house, but I have only met with one of them, 0. abrota, Westw. ; the 

 larvae feed in companies on species of Loranthus growing on high 

 Eucalyptus trees. The very pretty silvery-blue lalmenus evagoras, 

 Don., is abundant, especially in the National Park, where the larvae 

 often strip the twigs of the " black wattle " {Acacia decurrens) quite 

 bare, and the pupse may be gathered from the low bushes almost like 

 currants. Both larvae and pupse are always attended, and very effi- 

 ciently guarded, by multitudes of ants of two or three species (some 

 of which bite and sting pretty severely), for the sake of a sticky and 

 rather sickly-smelling secretion which they exude (cf. Mathew, Trans. 

 Ent. Soc, 1889, p. 153). The darker-coloured I. ictinus, Hew., is less 

 common than its congener, but is not rare at Hyde on the Parramatta 

 E/iver, and is similarly guarded by ants in its earlier stages, which are 

 also passed on the Acacia decurrens. 



