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approaches, remove themselves from the soil aiid crawl up the 

 nearest plant, eating small pieces of bark as they proceed ; they eat 

 parts of the buds, and cause distorted growth, or perhaps entirely 

 destroy the young shoot; leaves are also attacked, but the grubs 

 appear to prefer the soft young bark and buds. Mr. M. H. Jacoby, 

 of Mundaririg, in a letter referring to this insect, says: "It is 

 doing considerable damage to white grapes in this district, especially 



muscatels, by eating and cutting off the berries just after setting. 

 I thought at first that the shower of berries lying on the ground 

 was caused by abortive setting, but upon examination after dark 

 found the grub feeding upon the young bunch. In many cases they 

 have cut portions of the bunches right oil'." Besides the vine this 

 insect attacks the apple, quince, peach, and many other fruit grasses 

 and wild plants ; sometimes a plant is entirely denuded of its leaves, 

 or left with a few stalks and fragments of leaves. " A tree or vine is 

 occasionally practically ring-barked from the numerous patches that 

 have been eaten. 



The larvae is thick and fleshy, and larger near the head than 

 towards the tail. On being touched it curls itself up and feigns 

 death ; after a short period it straightens itself, and moves along 

 by contracting the high segments and elongating the front ones, the 

 motion being somewhat jerky. It is of a dirty sandy brown colour, 

 with a feeble stripe running along the back, and two still more feeble 

 ones at the sides ; the head is shining, the under- surface is of a dirty 

 grey colour, and paler than above. There are five pairs of prolegs 

 placed on the apical segments ; the breathing holes (or spiracles) at 

 the sides are small, black and distinct. The body is almost without 

 hairs, a few short ones being situate near the anus and on the sides. 

 The excrement is black. In captivity the larvae will frequently 

 devour one another, even when supplied with an abundance of food. 

 The pupae are pale brown in colour, with a small spine at the end ; 

 they are usually to be found in the situation as the larvae, and are 

 usually (but not always) enclosed in a small silken cocoon, which 

 is generally densely covered with sand and easily broken ; around 

 the wall of the residence on Rottnest Island, I noticed that cocoons 



