Zoology.] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Insects. 



Plate 30. 



ZEUZEEA (EUDOXYLA) EUCALYPTI (Boisd.Herr.-Schjef.). 



The Wattle Goat-Moth. 



[Genus ZEUZERA (Latr.). (Sub-kingd. Articulata. Class Insecta. Order Lepidoptera. 

 Section Heterocera. Fam. Hepialidse.) 



Gen. Char. — Body stout ; abdomen extending much beyond the extended hind wings. Palpi 

 short, proboscis nearly obsolete. Legs stout, nearly bare ; hind tibise with two minute, apical 

 spurs. Wings elongate, ovate, narrow ; anterior pair pointed, very oblique along exterior border, 

 nearly straight along anterior edge or costa ; discal areolet intersected by a forked veinlet ; 

 second superior vein forked at half its length ; second inferior vein more than twice further 

 from the third than from the first ; third a little further from the fourth than from the second. 

 Antenna, as long as or shorter than thorax of male, deeply bi- or tri-pectinate on basal half ; 

 distal half simple, minutely serrated : antennae of female simple ; ovipositor long.] 



Description. — Male. — Upper side : back of head and front and sides of thorax 

 greyish-white, from numerous, long, spatulate, white hairs amongst the shorter and 

 more numerous brown ones ; triangular middle space of thorax dark-brown, some- 

 times with a mid-line of grey hairs on hinder half, bordered by a narrow blue-black 

 border, forming a triangular horse-shoe shaped band separating it from the lighter 

 anterior and lateral color. Abdomen dark vandyke-brown, with a large white patch 

 on each side of anterior segment, and the posterior edges of each segment, especially 

 the four anterior ones, fringed with greyish-white spatulate hairs. Anterior wings 

 dark umber -brown, with ferruginous veins, between which is a thick irregular 

 reticulation of black, and a very irregular whitish discal stripe extending to the 

 apex of the wings, of more elongate spatulate scales than the darker parts. Hinder 

 wings of the same rusty-brown ferruginous tint as the veins of the anterior wing, 

 with a thick black reticulation between the veins on the apical half; the basal half 

 with the plain ferruginous tint, with a narrow white outer margin. Under side : head, 

 legs, and anterior part of thorax rich dark-brown ; posterior middle part of thorax 

 and the abdomen white \ anterior wings of a dull umber-brown, with blackish 

 reticulation between the veins and a whitish posterior margin ; hind wing' like the 

 anterior in color (destitute of the ferruginous color of the upper side), having the 

 black reticulations more extended towards the base. Length of body, 2 inches 

 2 lines to 2 inches 3 lines ; from tip to tip of expanded wings, 4J inches to 5 inches 

 2 lines. 



Female. — Larger than the male, with usually the whitish sides of thorax, edges 

 of abdominal segments, and discal stripe less distinct, or more brown ; the posterior 

 wings more richly ferruginous in tint, and with less of the black reticulation than 

 in the male. Length of body, 2 inches 3 lines to 3 inches ; from tip to tip of 

 expanded wings, 5 inches 3 lines to 7 inches. Ovipositor when exserted more than 

 half the length of the abdomen. 



Reference. — Herrich-Schseffer, Lepidop. Exot., fig. 164; Walker, Cat. B. M., 

 Heteroc, p. 1539. 



The coloring is very variable, firstly in the richness of the 

 ferruginous tint of the hinder wings, but more particularly in the 

 whitish parts ; the whitish stripe along the anterior wings, although 



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