THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 85 



Most naturalists, even those not taking much interest in the 

 Lepidoptera, have heard of the Processional Caterpillars — indeed, 

 their existence is sometimes obtruded upon the general public 

 by some correspondent to the papers describing their habits 

 with much embellishment and great multiplication of numbers. 



The species usually mentioned in books is Bombyx processioned, 

 a French insect ; but in England there is one species having the 

 same habits when young, though as they reach maturity they 

 disperse and lead solitary lives. 



Considering these insects of extreme interest, I was very 

 pleased to come across an Australian species possessing the same 

 peculiar characteristic — namely, Tear a melanosticta, a species 

 distributed throughout Australia. 



From a female captured during November I obtained ova, 

 which were laid in a patch upon the side of a small box, and 

 densely covered with yellow down from the body of the parent, 

 as usual with most of the Liparidse. Shortly afterwards, upon 

 looking at the box I was surprised to see that it contained what 

 looked like a piece of thick thread. Closer examination revealed 

 that this thread was composed of newly hatched caterpillars in 

 Indian file, each having its head close up to the tail of its fore- 

 runner, and the whole line moving simultaneously with mathe- 

 matical precision. Not knowing the proper food plant for this 

 species, I tried several, and found that the young larvae fed 

 readily upon Leptospermum, so I continued to give them that 

 food until they were full fed at the end of February. When first 

 hatched they were of a pale yellow colour with black heads, but 

 during successive moults they developed into very handsome 

 caterpillars indeed ; the processional habit was maintained 

 throughout, but they did not make any special habitation for 

 themselves on the elaborate scale some species do — one 

 occurring in Victoria, for Mr. French has in his possession an 

 old nest, though the insect making it has not yet been identified. 

 The common Teara tristis apparently does not possess this habit, 

 for I have never found more than three or four larvae upon the 

 same bush. Though the larvae of this genus are generally gre- 

 garious, I am not aware of this processional habit being 

 previously recorded. 



Urocoma limbalis (H. S.) is another typical species of the 

 Liparidae occurring very abundantly in the vicinity of Mel- 

 bourne. The eggs are deposited in little patches upon the 

 trunks of gum trees, and are densely covered with soft down. 

 "When the caterpillars hatch they at once ascend to the higher 

 branches. Some young larva? of mine hatched on 12th 

 November, but unfortunately I lost them through absence shortly 

 afterwards. Subsequently I obtained full-fed caterpillars during 

 May, so that they appear to be a long time feeding. Early in 



