COLEOPTERA 299 



Oxyops concreta, Pascoe 



This is an Australian species, the larva of which attacks the leaves 

 of species of Eucalyptus. It is found about the Manawatu district, 

 and is probably of general distribution where gum-trees have been 

 planted in New Zealand. Mr A. H. Cockayne states that at the 

 Government plantations at Rotorua and Waiotapu the cultivation of 

 blue-gums {Eucalyptus globulus) has had to be abandoned, on account 

 of the ravages of this weevil. 



(See Appendix B, p. 559.) 



Order LEPIDOPTERA 

 Sub-order RHOPALOCERA 

 Family Nymphalid^ 

 Danaida plexippus, Linn, {erippus, Cr.) 



Mr Hudson says of this butterfly that it is " a comparatively recent 

 natural immigrant which probably reached New Zealand during the 

 first half of the last century, independent of human agency." 



It appears to have been first observed in 1840-41, when Mr F. W. 

 Sturm took a specimen at Reinga, on the Wairoa River in Hawke's 

 Bay. In 1848 the same gentleman took a number at the Waiau, a 

 tributary of the Wairoa. It has been frequently taken in Hawke's Bay 

 since then (in 1861, 1873, 1874, etc.). Mr Sturm says that it kept 

 about the Lombardy poplars and Hoheria populnea in his garden. He 

 thought it was an indigenous species. 



Mr Colenso recorded the same species apparently in 1877 from 

 the same district, and stated that he had known it for some years. 

 Dr Hector found it in great abundance in Hokitika during the summer 

 of 1873. Mr Fereday discussed the question of its introduction in 

 1874 (Trans. N.Z. Inst. vol. vi, p. 183). 



In 1879 Mr Kingsley took a specimen in Nelson, and in 1890 

 he got several from the same district. In 1906 Mr Hudson got speci- 

 mens from Makara Beach near Wellington, and saw one in the city 

 itself. Mr Howes tells me (1919) that it has been taken at Auckland 

 and Wanganui; it is also reported to have been seen in Dunedin, 

 and he himself obtained one in a dying condition at Halfmoon Bay, 



Stewart Island. . 



Danaida chrysippus, JLinn. 



Mr Hudson states that two specimens of this species were taken 

 at the Thames in March, 1904. Mr Howes, writing in 1919, says: 

 "One flew into an Auckland school a few years back. Two specimens 

 were recently taken at Wanganui." 



