60 THE VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. 



Having moulted, they continued feeding, readily devouring any 

 species of eucalypt given tiiem, but choosing always the young 

 shoots and tender leaves, the old ones being rejected. They 

 were active in getting about, and would roam all over the cage 

 when looking for a further supply of food. The rapidity of their 

 growth was marvellous. When full fed one died during very hot 

 weather prevalent at the time ; the others pupated just beneath 

 the surface of the ground. Three went down on loth February, 

 the others during the next few days, the larval stage thus taking 

 about six weeks. The full-fed larva is sienna-brown, with lateral 

 stripes of a lighter colour, the general appearance being very 

 much like a piece of stringy-bark. As if aware of this protective 

 resemblance they generally attach themselves to the bark, or stay 

 among the small stems by day, remaining motionless, with the 

 legs extended, as shown in the figure. At dusk they make their 

 way to the end of the branches, feed ravenously during the night 

 upon the tender young foliage, returning at break of day to their 

 retreats. There are sub-dorsal projections on the 7th and 8th 

 segments but no anal horn. 



Although all the brood hatched from the ova simultaneously 

 and changed to the chrysalis stage within a few days of each 

 other there was a very wide disparity in the dates of emergence. 

 The first moth, a male, came out on 12th March, and another 

 male on 19th July. Up to this date Mr. Spry had not reared any, 

 but between this date and the end of the month a number of his 

 specimens emerged, the cage being kept in the open, and the 

 weather cold and inclement. On 2nd and 4th August females 

 appeared, on 17th November 2 females, 24th November a male, 

 and 1 2th December a male, making 8 specimens reared from the 

 II larvae originally received. 



Mr. Spry succeeded in obtaining ova from the specimens he 

 reared, and on 13th October gave me about 20 young larvse 

 about three-quarters of an inch long. The rest of the brood 

 retained by him were attacked by fungus, and all died in a week's 

 time. Mine fed for a month, and attained a large size, but early 

 in November they all died during a heat wave. Had they lived 

 they would probably have pupated before the last one of the 

 previous brood had emerged. 



It is hard to determine, in view of such irregular emergence, 

 whether this species is single or double brooded. Possibly it is 

 really a northern species, probably double brooded there, and 

 extending its range southward, may be with us in a transitory 

 stage, in which inherited tendencies are fighting against climatic 

 influences. 



I mentioned in my opening remarks the resemblance these 

 moths at rest have to leaves, but looking at specimens set out in 

 collections one would hardly expect this to be the case, for the 



