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Art. XXIII.— 0« the Lepidoptera of Otago. By A. Bathgate. 



[Bead before the Otago Institute, January 11, 1870.] 



The niggardliness of nature in her providing for New Zealand has almost 

 become proverbial, and she has certainly been far from liberal so far as insects 

 are concerned. We are rather gainers by this, for though many insects are 

 beautiful and useful to man, the majority either subject us to petty annoyances, 

 or are positively noxious. We may miss the " first white butterfly " among 

 the signs of spring ; but we are saved from finding the caterpillars in our 

 cabbage. We have no wasps and few ants, and except, perhaps, mosquitos 

 and sand-flies, in remote localities, and the great plague of the aphis, or blight 

 as it is usually called, we are, compared with other countries, free from insect 

 pests. This paucity is more remarkable when we consider how imported 

 insects thrive. The common house-fly (Musca domestica) has been accidentally 

 introduced, and is now spread nearly all over the country _, driving out to a 

 great extent the native blow-fly. Nevertheless, although the number of insects 

 in Otago is small, there is a large and not unimportant field for study. 



The value of the study of entomology is so universally admitted, that any 

 remarks which I may make in support of it may seem trite in the extreme ; 

 but there is one circumstance which occuri^ed in Otago that I cannot refrain 

 from, mentioning, where a slight knowledge of entomology would have been of 

 service. Four summers ago, I saw a person's lawn covered over with branches, 

 and, on asking the reason, I was told that it was to keep the hens from 

 scratching up the grass, for doing which they had suddenly taken a fancy. 

 I went and looked at the lawn, and found that it was full of grubs, which were 

 eating the grass roots, and that the fowls were scratching the grass to get at 

 these grubs, which were the larvae of a small brown beetle belonging to the 

 genus Elateridce, that sometimes eat the grass roots to such an extent as to 

 cause large patches of it to wither up as if scorched by fire ; my friend, in 

 fact, was taking some trouble to prevent the fowls rendering him a great 

 service. 



The elater I have seen in New Zealand bears a very close resemblance to 

 one of the British species. I am unable to say whether it is exactly the same, 

 but the likeness was so great as to suggest the idea that this insect might have 

 been introduced with the grass seed. If I be correct in my conjecture, it 

 would be a very strong argument (if any be needed) in favour of the urgent 

 necessity for the introduction of British insectivorous birds. The starling, a 

 few of which have, I think, been successfully acclimatized here, would prove 

 an inveterate enemy to these grubs. The grub I have referred to is not the 

 only pest of the kind with which we have to contend, for the larvae of the 

 crane-fly, of which we have a representative in Otago, are also addicted to 

 similar pursuits. 



