NOTES ON INSECT LIFE. 117 
over half-an-inch, very stout about seventh, eight, and ninth seg- 
ments. General colour light green, often quite suffused with 
purplish brown. Dorsal line white, edged with dark brown, 
sometimes incomplete. Lateral line white-edged, above with 
dark brown or red. There are four small black dorsal tubercles 
on each segment, the posterior pair in each segment being fur- 
ther apart than the anterior pair. In some a reddish-brown, 
median ventral stripe is present. Some of the larve are quite 
green, the markings being almost obliterated. 
The genera Lylobara and Pseudocoremia are vety interesting, 
Buteat the same time very puzzling, on account of the 
amount of variation between the sexes, and for some time back 
I have been seeking the larve of the various species in order to 
define more certainly the species from varieties. The habits of 
P. lupinata have been known for several years, and while on an 
excursion to Lake Wakatipu in February of this year I was 
fortunate enough to find larvee which proved to be those of P. 
productata and P. melinata. Now that the habits of the larve 
are known, it will be simply a matter of time to settle the confu- 
sion that has hitherto existed in these two genera. Subjoined 
are the descriptions of the larvae :— 
Lylobara productata, Walk. 
Larva, a looper about nine-tenths of an inch in length, feed- 
ing on a fine-leaved Tutu (Corzaria). General colour reddish- 
brown, with fine, light-coloured, longitudinal striations, Dorsal 
stripe darker. Sides wrinkled. Lateral line lighter than the 
ground-colour. A male emerged from the chrysalis towards the 
end of March. 
Pseudocoremia lupinata, Feld. 
(Its caterpillar was described by Prof. Hutton i in Vol. XII. of 
the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, but his descrip- 
tion is too general to serve for identification). Larva, a looper 
beaten from Leptospermum ericoides; length about an inch; 
general colour a mixture of blackish and greyish brown. There 
is a light brown, irregular, interrupted dorsal stripe, very narrow 
except on the eighth segment, where it widens between two 
small dorsal prominences. There are tour small black marks on 
each side of the dorsal stripe, and also a subdorsal dark band. 
The lateral band is irregular, interrupted, and white. Beneath, 
the colour is dark, except a very distinct white median, longitu- 
dinal stripe edged with black. 
Pseudocoremia melinata, Feld. 
Larvee, loopers, beaten from the N. Z. Broom (Carmichelia), 
about four-fifths of aninchlong. Colour dull green, with darker 
longitudinal striation, much resembling the stems of their food- 
plant; sometimes yellowish at the junction of the segments. 
Below paler, with a median white stripe. One had a light dorsal 
stripe interlined with dark green. In the younger larve the 
dorsal striations were very distinct. Three females emerged in 
the house in March. One variety, as often happens in ZL. fro- 
ductata, had the central belt of the forewings well defined, 
