86 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



June they descend the trees, and seek out positions under the 

 loose bark on the trunks to pupate in. Having found suitable 

 spots they spin somewhat slight cocoons of pale yellow silk, and 

 then turn into yellow chrysalides ; these may be obtained during 

 July by peeling off loose bark, and looking for them among the 

 collection of spiders, wood lice, centipedes, and beetles 

 generally revealed by the operation. These uncanny neighbours 

 do not appear to molest either the larvae or chrysalides, but the 

 species is very subject to the attacks of a large ichneumon fly, a 

 single larva of which is sufficient to consume its unwilling host. 



It is a remarkable fact that the limbalis caterpillars frequently 

 undergo their transformation into pupae with these living 

 parasites within them, and the ichneumon maggots then finish 

 them off, and construct their own tough, oblong, banded cocoons 

 within the emptied chrysalides of their victims. The perfect 

 insects may be found resting upon the tree trunks during 

 October and November. 



The next insect I would draw your attention to is the Banksia 

 Prominent (Dcmima banksii), an insect that is more frequently 

 observed in the larval than any other period of its existence. As 

 its name implies, it feeds upon Banksia, and is generally to be 

 met with on the heath lands, if carefully sought for. There are 

 two broods in a year, and the larvae are very rapid and voracious 

 feeders ; their peculiar markings, and habit of resting with both 

 head and tail bent over their backs, causes them to be easily 

 identified. When handled or irritated they thrust out a pair of 

 bilorked tentacles from underneath the first segment. These are 

 of a coral pink colour, and when the caterpillar has them fully 

 extended it looks sufficiently dangerous to daunt the uninitiated, 

 though in reality it is perfectly harmless and may be handled with 

 impunity. The use of these organs is probably to dislodge 

 ichneumon flies. 



Another " Prominent," a fine handsome moth, is IJyleora 

 eucalypti, still somewhat of a prize ; for though the larvae may 

 sometimes be met with in great numbers, they seem so liable 

 to disease that it is only a very small proportion that reach the 

 perfect state. This disease causes them to turn a yellowish red 

 and to become perfectly hard and rigid, though they frequently 

 still remain fastened to the twigs. These caterpillars, though 

 large and apparently conspicuous, so assimilate with their food 

 plant that it is a little hard to see them, and even when on a per- 

 fectly bare stem their position is generally such that they resemble 

 a leaf, and unless one was specially searching for them would 

 probably be quite unobserved. Those that escape disease and 

 the other perils of flood and field — or, rather, bird and ichneumon 

 — seek a shelter under ground during September, and, having 

 constructed a compact cocoon, enter the pupal state, which con- 



