THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



various vegetables, but more especially lettuce and green peas ; 

 they are most voracious, and grow with great 

 rapidity. When full fed they construct a 

 fragile cocoon just beneath or upon the sur- 

 face of the ground. The moths emerge 

 during January and February, and fly both 

 by day and night. I have observed them 

 on the wing in hundreds during the bright 

 sunshine of February. When confined to- 

 gether the larvae develop cannibalistic ten- 

 dencies, so that it is best to give them as 

 much room as possible in rearing. They 

 are frequently enclosed in the pea pods and 

 lettuce delivered in Melbourne for consump- 

 tion, and there are two forms — one green, 

 the other brown. 



The other species referred to is Mamestra 

 composita, a species that is always abundant, 

 and sometimes swarms in pasture lands. 

 The caterpillars feed during June, July, and 

 August upon grass, but are strictly nocturnal 

 in their habits, retiring during daytime under- 

 ground or under any loose stones or pieces 

 of bark that they can find; at night, however, 

 they are readily found with the aid of a 

 lantern, and when touched invariably fall to 

 the ground and roll into a ring. When full 

 fed, at the end of August, they enter the ground to a depth of 

 several inches, and construct a cell in which to pass the next few 

 months ; they do not change into pupae until December, but 

 about that time the change takes place, and it is not long then 

 before the moths emerge. The larva of Agrotis mundoides is 

 generally found feeding in company with the present species ; it 

 very much resembles it in appearance, and vies with it in its 

 depredations upon our pastures. 



Among the insects sure to be disturbed during a summer 

 ramble are many species belonging to the Geometrse, or " Slender 

 Bodies," and ranked under the name of " Carpets," a name 

 generally understood and accepted by collectors, and, therefore, 

 of use, but the origin of which is somewhat obscure. One of the 

 largest genera of these insects is Hydriomena, containing many 

 of the most familiar forms ; another allied genus is Xanthorhce. 

 As the life-histories of all these are probably very similar, I will 

 merely give a description of one of the commonest — namely, 

 Xanthorhce vicissata (Gn.), which is found everywhere in the 

 ranges. I first met with it at Ferntree Gully, and obtained two 

 worn specimens on the 7th April; one of these deposited about 



Larva of H. armigera 

 on pea pod. 



