6 AUSTRALLiN LEPIDOPTEEA 



The Maxilhc ....short. 



The Labial palpi (lig. 3, male) project forwards and upwards to about three-fourths of tlie eye ; second joint robust, 



nearly four times the length of the basal ; terminal minute, nearly obsolete ; the whole covered with 



hairs which become more bushy at the tip. 

 The Legs strong, sparingly clothed with hair (anterior pair, fig. 4, male), second pair with two, and posterior pair 



(fig. 5, female) with four spurs, the upper pair of the latter exceedingly small and buried in the hair of 



the tibiic. 



Wings deltoid when at rest, the moth being usually suspended by the anterior feet, a position, we observe, generally 

 adojjted by all the Sphingidit The ground colour of the fore wings is of a rich reddish brown, havmg on the centre of each, 

 at the costa, a large triangular patch of deeper brown, strikingly relieved outwardly by a powdered mass of white. The abdominal 

 margin is edged by white, and a white patch at the anal angle. The hind wings are likewise of a deep reddish brown, merging 

 into bright orange yellow towards their base, with a whitish triangular patch at the anal angle, and a whitish marginal fringe. 

 The head, thorax and abdomen are robust, and of an olive-brown colour ; the patagia edged with a i)urplish band, which also 

 proceeds along the scutellum and abdomen. Tlie under surface is ochreous, the triangular patch on the upper side of the fore 

 wings being partially defined, witli the space between it and the base orange yellow. A faintly indicated bar of white passes 

 transversely through the disc of each wing. 



The plant upon which the caterpillars are represented is the R-rsoonia lanccolata or " gibbung " of the aborigines, to the 

 ripe berries of which they are extremely partial, although to Europeans the fruit is insipid and worthless. 



The original of the slight sketch, introduced into this plate, is from the able pencil of the late Mr. Conrad Martens, whose 

 finished drawings of Australian scenery are so well known. The view represents the entrance of Port Jackson, with the old 

 Sydney Lighthouse, which formerly occupied the site of the Macquarie Light at South Head. 



[C. triangularis is rather widely distributed in Australia, but as far as we are aware it does not extend its range into New 

 Guinea or the adjacent islands; nor has it, as far as we know, been observed in Tasmania. It is particularly abundant on the 

 seaboard side of the great chain of mountains which borders the entire eastern coast-line of Australia, occurring from Cape York, 

 at one extremity of the continent, to Wilson's Promontory at the other. It may be of interest to add that Mr. Scott has the 

 following note with regard to a batch of C. triangularis larviB which he found in December, 1840 : — " These caterpillars," he says, 

 " had the usual changes of skin, bat at the last one seemed generally to suffer much. Several remained six days previous to 

 casting the skin, and six days after, without eating."] 



OPHIDERES SALAMINIA, Ckamer.— (Plate XI.) 



Phalana Noctiia salaminia, Cramer, Pap. Exot., II., p. 117, pi. clxxiv., fig. A (1779); Clerk, Icones, pi. xlviii., fig. 5, G. 



Noclua salaminia, Fabricius, Syst. Ent., III., p. 17 (1794). 



Mmias salaminia, Ilubner, Vcrz. bok. Scliinett., p. 264 ; Moore, Trans. Zool. Soc, London, XI., p. 71, pi. xiv., fig. 2 (1881); Lep. Ceylon, III., p. 134, 



pi. IGl, fig. 1 (1884). 

 Ophideres salaminia, Guenee, Spec. Gen. Lop., Noct., VII., p. 115 ; Walker, Cat. Lep. llct. B.M,, XIII., p. 1225 (1857). 

 Ophideres atkinsoni, Scott, MS. 

 LiFE-iliSTORY : Moore, Trans. Zool. Soc, London, XL, pi. xii., fig. 3, 3a, 3b, larva and pupa (figures only) from Allipore (Groto), and Java (Horsfickl) ; 



Lep. Cej'lon, IIL, p. 134, pi. IGl, fig. la, lb (1884). 



In February we found on Ash Island, Lower Hunter River, feeding on the Sarcopctalum harveyanum, a brood of about twenty 

 half-grown larvco, which, from their similarity of markings and general contour, we at once referred to Ophideres fullonica. In course 

 of time, however, one of the number exhibited such marked divergence in colouring from its companions, that we were led to 

 suspect the presence of a second species, a surmise which ultimately proved correct. Three months later we fortunately secured 

 another full grown larva of a reddish colour, and since then several fine specimens have been forwarded to us from Singleton, in 

 the Upper Hunter district, where they were captured feeding on Stephania liernandia-folia, another Menispermaceous plant. 



The full grown larva is very handsome, altliough both in colour and markings it is inferior to Op/ndOTs/uZiomra. • It is 

 throughout of a deep rich velvety-black, minutely powdered with small spots of white, pale blue, and straw colour, the whole 

 forming a rich combination to which the pencil cannot do justice. On each side of the fifth and sixth segments is a gaudy ocellus, 

 possessing a black pupil with a blue centre, and an iris yellowish above and saturnine-red below. On the back between the ocelli 

 are two oval white spots, one on each segment, and there is a similar white spot on the fourth segment. The penultimate segment 

 bears a reddish prominence, from which proceeds along each side a delicate tracery of white, resembling the fine fibrous roots of a 



