MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 537 
measures might be traced from near Hadspen to a place where he had 
reported favourable indications many years ago on the N. Hsk, and 
eventually to the Fingal Valley. The infiltration of water had loosened 
its texture, and had given it a flaky character, and it was that 
appearance, together with some of the surface indications, which led 
some people to suppose that it was a lignite, and not a true coal. It 
was, however, a true coal, and belonged to the same system as all the 
Southern and Eastern coal measures. There was an admixture of 
sulphide of iron, but not, apparently, in any objectionable quantity. 
The calcite present in the specimen was a point of resemblance between 
this and some of the Jerusalem and Fingal coal. It was not likely to 
prove predjudicial to the use of the coal for ordinary purposes. It 
seemed highly probable that the discovery would be a valuable and 
important one to those persons on whose property it was found. From 
some preliminary investigations, the proprietor had come to the 
conclusion that it rose in an easterly direction, and he was now driving 
from the lowest level that he could find in that direction, so as to strike 
it on a rise and eventually drain the mine by gravitation. 
Mr. R. M. Johnston remarked that the specimen which had been 
sent to him had rather a ligneous appearance. He had no hesitation,, 
however, in saying that he believed it to be a good coal, and from the 
presence of Zeugophyllites elongatus, Phyllotheca, Taeniopteris, and 
Sphenopteris, identical with species in the coal measures at New Town 
and York Plains. There was no doubt in his mind that it belonged to 
the mesozoic coal measures. 
LIFE-HISTORY OF LIOTHULA OMNIVORA.* 
> 
BY GEORGE VERNON HUDSON. 
~ 
The larva of this moth may be found throughout the year on the 
foliage of various trees, the favourite among the indigenous kinds 
being the common manuka (Leptospermum). In cultivated parts of 
the country, where a great many of the coniferous pines (Cupressus 
macrocarpus, Pinus insignis, &c.) have been introduced, it is to be 
found feeding on these quite as freely as on its original food-plant ; it 
also shows great partiality for willows. When very young, and 
probably immediately after leaving the egg, this larva constructs a 
wide spindle-shaped case, principally composed of silk, only a few 
small fragments of leaves, &c., being attached to its outside; it has a 
large aperture in front, through which the head and anterior portion 
of the larva are projected, and a much smaller one at the posterior 
extremity, which allows the pellets of excrement to fall out of the case 
as they are evacuated. The enclosed caterpillar is of a light straw- 
colour, the head and first three segments being dark brown and 
hardened, with their anterior margins shining white; legs brown. 
The abdominal segments are considerably thickened near the middle 
* Reprinted from **The Entomologist,” Vol. XVIII.. p. 153, (June 1885.) 
