CASTNIA. 



37 



band running from the costa just beyond the middle, and a 

 short oblique white stripe beyond ; hind-wings black, with blue 

 and green reflections, and with two rows of sub-marginal red 

 spots, pupilled with white ; above the inner row is a large 

 white spot on the casta ; the base is also reddish. 



This Moth is common in December in many parts of Chili, 

 where it flies by day round the flowers of Bromeliaceous plants, 

 belonging to the genus Pourretia. Its flight is heavy, and 

 resembles that oi Ag/ia tan, a well-known European species of 

 Saturniiihv, and in repose it is said to hold its wings erect, like 

 a Butterfly. 



The egg, as already mentioned, resembles a grain of wheat 

 in size, shape, and colour. The larvcX feed in the trunk of 

 Pourretia coarcfata, and their presence is indicated by the 

 exuding gum ; where no gum appears, it is useless to examine 

 the tree. The larvae, which measure 4}4 inches in length, are 

 of a greenish semi-transparent white, with the head and anal 

 extremity brown, and some brown markings on the back of 

 the first segment behind the head, which is much enlarged. 

 They are provided with a few short scattered hairs, and the 

 legs, pro-legs, and claspers are all rather short. The larvai are 

 very similar, both in size and appearance, to those of various 

 large wood-feeding beetles. The pupa is enclosed in a laige 

 cocoon formed of fragments of leaves, scales, &:c., in the trunk 

 of the tree. The pupa is brown, wiih a row of small spines 

 on the back of the abdomen, and the cases of the wings, legs, 

 antennce, and proboscis are all more or less separated, an un- 

 usual character in Lepidoptcra. 



CASTNIA HUE FINER I, 

 {Plate I.XXn. Fit:. 2.) 



Casttua hi'ibficr^ Latreille, in Cuvicr, Rcgne Anim iii. p. 439, 

 pi. 20, fig. 2 (1830). 



