LIFE HISTORY, clc. OF TIMIVFH MOTHS. 



By ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 



[lieail hc/ort' t/w lliiijiil Sdciiti/ nf (Jii,',')isl,ni<l, ■sfdf/i Scjit., 1S9S. 



In walking through the scrub aud bush a close observer is 

 frequently confronted by strange-looking patches on the sides of 

 trees, generally on saplings of not more than from 2in. to Gin. 

 or 8in, in diameter, though they may also be seen on large, or 

 -even very large trees. Now, if he be indeed a close observer, 

 the qviestion will naturally arise as to what these curious objects 

 are, how they got there, and what purpose they serve. He will 

 soon find that they are the webs of certain caterpillars living in 

 'holes or burrows behind them, and that they are formed by these 

 ■caterpillars as a covering or protection from other insects. 



In December, 1892, I read a paper before the Natural 

 History Society of Queensland, which appeared in volume I. of 

 their transactions, giving an account of the Xyloryctidae, one of 

 the families of moths whose larva? have this singular habit. I 

 .propose now to give an account of the Hepialidae and Zeuzeridae, 

 and to make comparison between them and the abovementioned, 

 .not at all, or at any rate, very distantly related, Xyloryctidae. 



The Hepialidae, to begin with, are fairly numerous in 

 Australia, being represented by many specially large and splendid 

 insects, of which Leto Staceyi is the grandest and Charagia 

 Ramsayi perhaps the most beautiful of all these moths that are 

 known. The first of these in wing expansion measures about 

 •Bin., the second 5|in. The Zeuzeridae are even more numerous 

 in species, and of still greater size ; but are not so readily 

 ^observed during their various stages as are the hepialids, hence 



