THE COMMON BEAN BUTTERFLY 63 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 



THE COMMON BEAN BUTTERFLY. 



(Zizera Labradus GodtJ) 

 Order : Lepidoptera. Family : Lyccenidce. 



This common but pretty little butterfly, although the 

 larvae were well known to feed upon leguminous plants 

 especially, has only recently come into notoriety as an 

 insect destructive alike to the bean and pea grower; 

 and the plate, we think, will show that this pest bids 

 fair, if not promptly checked, to seriously threaten two of 

 the most important vegetable industries of our State. 



Those of us who have been accustomed to the bush 

 will have noticed these butterflies flying in large 

 numbers, usually in the spring, when the sun commences 

 to have some power. On the heath grounds of Brighton, 

 Sandringham, and other sandy parts of our coasts, these 

 butterflies are very plentiful ; and as there are other 

 species approaching them in general appearance, it has 

 been well named u The Common Blue," it being the 

 most common of the whole family in Victoria. 



The male of this species (see plate, Fig. 2) is smaller 

 than the female, and so far as my experience goes, is 

 the more plentiful of the two. 



In his excellent work, A Revision of the Rhopalocera 

 Section of the Australian Lepidoptera, Mr. F. G. 

 Waterhouse mentions the larvae of this family as ' ' having 

 sluggish habits ; the larvae are usually night feeders, 

 hiding by, day in crevices, or even in ants' nests ; in most 

 cases attended by ants; sometimes gregarious; sometimes, 

 though rarely, carnivorous ; very often feeding in the 

 buds or seed-pods of leguminous plants." 



Messrs. Anderson and Spry lay claim to having found 



