16 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



specimens, the largest I have ever seen. There were no signs 

 of ichneumons. 



At Lyttelton, near Christchurch, New Zealand, on January 

 27th, 1884, I found the larvae and pupae of the beautiful Pyrameis 

 gonerilla, Fabr., plentiful among nettles in the gullies on the 

 mountain slopes at the back of the town, and took a large 

 number. This stinging-nettle upon which the larvae were 

 feeding was taller and much more robust and bushy than our 

 common English plant, and its stinging powers about twice as 

 severe. The habits of the larvae were much the same as those 

 of P. atalanta, as was also their general appearance I also 

 caught three fresh butterflies, evidently just emerged, and 

 observed worn females engaged egg-laying, so there was probably 

 a succession of broods during the summer. Subsequently a 

 number of the perfect insects were bred, and I did not find that 

 any of the larvae or pupae had been attacked by parasites. On 

 March 9th, 1883, the first time I ever saw P. gonerilla alive, I 

 took three fine specimens in the Botanical Gardens, Wellington, 

 where I found them feasting on the sweet- smelling flowers of a 

 kind of privet. It is a beautiful insect when seen with its wings 

 fully expanded in the bright sun. 



The larvae of Pyrameis itea, Fabr., were very common at 

 Hobart, Tasmania, in February, 1883, and I took a number from 

 beds of nettles in various parts of the town and its outskirts, 

 and bred many of the butterflies, but did not notice any sign of 

 ichneumons. It also occurred in Australia, where I saw larvae 

 commonly in the neighbourhood of Sydney, as well as at Black- 

 heath, on the Blue Mountains, in February, 1885. 



Another Vanessid, Junonia vellida, Fabr., was common in 

 Australia, and upon all the islands in the Pacific that I visited. 

 Its habits much resemble those of A. urticce. Near Sydney I found 

 the larvae feeding on Plantago major and P. lanceolata, as well as 

 upon Antirrhinum, in the Botanical Gardens. At the Friendly 

 Islands they fed on sweet potato and on other islands they were 

 to be met with feeding, quite exposed, on the leaves of a kind of 

 Daphne. I bred a large number of the butterflies, but did not 

 notice that any of the larvae or pupae were " stung." 



Dovercourt ; 

 November 23rd, 1921. 



NOTES AND OBSEBVATIONS. 



Correction op a Geneeic Name.— In my ' Exotic Microlepi- 

 doptera,' vol. ii, p. 456, issued in November, 1921, I described a new 

 genus of Cosmopterygidas under 'the name Mothonica, unaccountably 

 forgetting Lord Walsingham's use of the same name for a genus of 

 Xyhryctida (probably a synonym of Stenoma). I now propose to 

 substitute for my genus the name Mothonodes.—E. Meyrick • 

 Thornhanger, Marlborough, November 24th. 



