84 NEW ZEALAND ENTOMOLOGY. 



on the " New Zealand currant " (A. racemosa), from which 

 individuals can be occasionally beaten during the spring 

 and early summer. They are almost impossible to find by 

 searching in the ordinary way, from a habit they possess of 

 clinging firmly to the twigs, which they exactly imitate in 

 colour. When full-grown this caterpillar constructs a small 

 cocoon just below the ground, where it is transformed into a 

 robust-looking pupa, from which the moth emerges in a 

 month or six weeks' time. The sexes of this species may be 

 readily distinguished, the male (Fig. i) having the antennae 

 slightly pectinated, while those of the female are quite simple, 

 and her body much more robust. The moth drawn at Fig* 

 ib has been reared from larvae exactly resembling those of 

 the present insect, of which it is consequently now known 

 to be only an extreme variety. It was formerly ranked as 

 a distinct species under the name of Declana junctilinea. 



Family GEOMETRID^E. 

 Chalastra pelurgata (Plate XL, fig. 2 , 2a ., 2b larva). 



This delicate species may be taken flying about the forest 

 at night, from October till March, but is most abundant on 

 the white rata blossoms during the latter end of summer. 



Its caterpillar feeds sparingly on a delicate fern (Todea 

 hymenophyllioides) which grows in dark glades in the forest, 

 where the sun seldom or never shines. In colour it is 

 generally dull brown, with a row of green or pale brown 

 lunate spots on each side ; on the ventral surface the 

 colour is darker, except on the thorax, where it is green, 

 the legs being also green. There are in addition numerous 

 fine, wavy lines down the back and sides of the larva, 

 and the dorsal surface of the thoracic segments and 

 ventral prolegs are bright reddish brown (Fig. 2b). These 

 larvae are, however, very variable ; in many the " lunate " 

 stripes are much longer, having a diagonal direction, and 



