CRYPTOPHASA PULTEN^. 121 



therefore is left out, and the larva hauls them gra- 

 dually in as it consumes them. The pupa state 

 continues for thirty-eight days, the moth appearing 

 in the end of February. It frequents banks of 

 rivers, ponds, and deep gulleys; these being the 

 places where the trees it feeds on are usually 

 found. 



C. PuLTENiE. — Wings silvery-white, the anterior pair with 

 three small black spots in the middle and a marginal 

 row at the extremity ; hinder wings black in the male, 

 white in the female, with a series of angular black marks 

 at the hinder margin : abdomen with a square spot of 

 bright red towards the base. Expansion, male one inch ; 

 female, one inch and seven lines. Lewin, pi. 1 3. 



The larva bores downwards a cylindrical chamber 

 in the centre of the stem of Pultenoea villosa, Willd., 

 having the entrance arched over with a fabric of 

 web and excrement, under which, having taken its 

 food thither in its nightly excursions, it feeds during 

 the day in secret security. 



Lewin informs us that all the larvas of the genus 

 Cryptophasa seal themselves in by an agglutinated 

 covering across the cell or chamber where they 

 transform to pupae, through which, however, the 

 moth can force its way from below; yet it is a 

 strong bulwark against external foes, and effectually 

 supplies the purposes of the old covering at the 

 mouth of the cell, which falls off soon after the 

 larva's final retirement. The group is named Cryp- 

 tophasa, from the secret and secure manner in which 

 this new and evidently natural division of moths 



