RANDOM NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND LEPIDOPTERA. 219 



Zealand Lepidoptera when I met him at Christchurch a few 

 weeks later. The most abundant species was the pretty little 

 A cidalia mullata, which occurred freely among the "Ti" bush, 

 and which subsequently turned up at every other place we visited. 

 It varies so much that in a series of twelve there are scarcely two 

 alike. I have also taken it in Tasmania and New South Wales, 

 so it appears to be widely distributed. Upon the trunks of old 

 trees three species of Scoparia were common — Scoparia feredayi, 

 a very distinct species, and two others which are at present 

 unknown to me. Among sedge and rushes by the side of the 

 stream Botijs Jiavidalis, B. notata, and two plumes, Platyptilus 

 repletalis and Aciptilus monospilalis, were not uncommon, and 

 besides these I boxed about two dozen other species, amongst 

 which were some pretty and interesting Crambites. 



From Eussell we proceeded to Auckland, where we remained 

 for nearly three weeks ; as it rained more or less the whole time 

 we were there I was able to do next to nothing in the way of col- 

 lecting. From thence, after stopping a day or two at Tauranga, 

 we went on to Port Chalmers, the port of Dunedin, where we 

 arrived on January 12th, and left again on 24th ; and the 

 weather here was much the same as at Auckland, and nothing 

 could be done. On January 25th we reached Lyttelton, the port 

 of Christchurch, and where, I am glad to say, we were favoured 

 with finer weather. Lyttelton is snugly and prettily situated at 

 the foot of a lofty range of hills in a little bay within an almost 

 land-locked harbour. The hills slope up immediately from the 

 back of the town, and are divided by deep gullies, in which there 

 is a mixed growth of trees and shrubs ; and the spurs and higher 

 parts are overgrown with tufts of the native tussock grass. 

 Little streams course down the gullies, and after heavy rains 

 become much swollen and form waterfalls in many places ; and 

 their margins are fringed with a variety of ferns — Asplenium, 

 Todea, Lomaria, &c. ; and many beautiful parasitical species, 

 such as Asplenium flaccidum, Hymenophyllwm, Polypodium, &c, 

 clothed the trunks of the dead and fallen trees. 



One of my first expeditions was a scramble up one of these 

 gullies to the top of the highest hill, and a more enjoyable 

 afternoon I have seldom spent. Under the shadows of the trees, 

 in the deepest recesses, masses of shrub-like nettles three to four 

 feet high grew in large patches ; and one of the first insects 



