ENTOMOLOGY IN NEW ZEALAND. 

 By Ambrose Quail, F.E.S. 



I ARRIVED in this colony three years ago from London, and 

 soon found that entomologists were scarce and scattered ; in 

 consequence I had to depend on my own resources for prosecuting 

 entomological study, there being little or no literary work — at 

 least get-at-able. When one is thus thrown upon his own 

 knowledge, with an entirely unknown fauna to deal with, it is 

 surprising what little headway can be made. 



Again, locality is an important factor. In this respect I have 

 been unfortunate. First, in Auckland the district is volcanic and 

 comparatively sterile, hence a dearth of Insecta ; next, I became 

 located in an inland town, wherefrom it is almost impossible to 

 get away for collecting purposes, the district being more or less 

 under cultivation, all bush having been burnt off — the usual 

 plan. Doubtless bush land would be an " El Dorado " to an 

 entomologist. 



Eecently I discovered that Professor F. W. Hutton is the 

 author of descriptive catalogues of New Zealand Diptera, 

 Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, and Ne'uroptera ; and, of course, the 

 late W. M. Maskell's special work on the Coccidse (Homoptera) 

 has a world-wide reputation, and is of scientific importance. 

 E. Meyrick seems to have been the most prominent writer on 

 the Lepidoptera, his work being scattered amongst scientific 

 publications; and G. V. Hudson, already the author of an 

 elementary text-book on New Zealand entomology, has, during 

 the last few months, published a work on the " Macro "-Lepi- 

 doptera of New Zealand, based upon the scattered work of 

 Meyrick. 



Under these circumstances, one can realize what Stainton 

 has done for British lepidopterists. Cavil as we may at Newman, 

 they both popularized the study of Lepidoptera in England, and 

 laid the foundation stones upon which the present generation 

 has raised, at any rate, this branch of entomology to the level of 

 botany, and the rank of a science. From this point of view great 

 credit is due to a " pioneer" author, and G. V. Hudson's work 

 will be a useful volume to local entomologists, though it does 

 not rank with the high-class scientific work of many recent 

 writers — Scudder, Packard, Dyar, Comstock, Chapman, Hamp- 

 son, Tutt, and others — with which the writer seems to be 

 unacquainted. In the following notes I propose to make com- 

 ments, which may induce the author to pay more attention to 

 contemporary literature, and place less dependence upon the 

 work of one man, and that man not himself, in any further 

 publication he undertakes. 



Among the first Lepidoptera taken by myself was a specimen 



