i»i8.] 63 



The expansion of the wings is jl inch. The fore wings, wliich have the 

 costa very abruptly arched at the base and the terinen very oblique, are bright, 

 (/oldeti-ochreuus ivith the veins well marhed and deeply depressed : there is a large 

 cn-immn-orange -metallic basal patch, purple on the casta ; a ctirved transverse band 

 at about I deep crimson-pur pie-metallic on the costa, metaliic-blue below the middle, 

 and crimson on the dorsum; another narroicer band at about \, deep purple on 

 the casta, thence brilliant metallic-blue to the dorsum ; two long costal bars be^/ond 

 this, purple on the costa, 2)nle metallic-blue towards the disc ; an irregular 

 confluent series of crimscn and metallic-blue spots on the termen ; the cilia are 

 golden-ochreous. The hind wings are blackish with strong purple reflections. 

 The head and thorax are clothed with long rusty-orange hairs. The abdomen 

 is blackish. The antennae are orange, black towards the apex. 



Hiliview, Karori, 



Wellington, N.Z. 

 November I8th, 1917. 



On the Introduction of Insect Aliens to the British Islands. — I see that 

 Mr. W. E. Sharp (in the January number of this Magazine) takes me to task 

 for expressing approval of the possible establishment m these islands of two 

 exotic butterflies. As Mr. Sharp invites the opinion of biologists on the 

 subject, I am tempted to state my views more full}-. I must confess that, 

 as a student of biology, I am in sympathy with his argument, and have mysell 

 experienced annoyance at certain heedless interferences with Nature's methods 

 of populating a country. And yet there is another side cf me (let us call it 

 the aesthetic side) that would lead me to welcome the introduction of any 

 object of beauty that might add to the interest and pleasure of the liveSj not 

 of entomologists only, but of the general community. I wonder if biologists 

 (and entomologists in particular), constituting — as they do — such a minute 

 percentage of the population of the world, are justified in setting their own 

 inconvenience (for it is little more) against the harmless gratification of the 

 aesthetic instincts of the majority. I do not wish for a moment to underrate 

 the value of work that has been and is being effected by biologists all the 

 world over, but are we not, perhaps, in danger of taking ourselves and the 

 importance of our particular theories a little too seriously ? Mr. Sharp com- 

 plains of confusions that have arisen in the study of the distribution of the 

 flora of this country, through the constantly repeated introduction of foreign 

 plants ; yet how dull would our gardens now be but for the untiring zeal of 

 collectors who have ransacked the world for new flowering plants to add to 

 the beauty and interest of our surroundings. Why should not lovers of insect 

 life be allowed some such indulgence ? As an Economic Entomologist by 

 profession, I acknowledge that indiscriminate introductions might lead (and 

 indeed have led) to disastrous results, and must be sternly discouraged. 

 1 need only instance the case of the Gypsy-moth plague in North America. 

 Any experiments in this direction should be under close control and subject to 

 the strictest regulations. They ought to be first submitted to some responsible 



