22 



This beetle seem to be a very voracious eater and shews a par- 

 ticular liking lor the young leaves which arc still yellowish-green 

 or even lor those 4 that arc yet bronze coloured. They cat away the 

 whole ol the leaf, leaving nothing but the stem which rapidly dries 

 up and easily break off in the hand. By this means they quickly 

 render a tree devoid of young leaves. 



I have only as yet found some half a dozen trees attacked by] 

 these beetles, but from these trees I must have caught at least 150 

 specimens in the course of half an hour. The grubs of these 

 beetles I have not yet discovered. 



If you could give me any information about these beetles, I 

 should be very much obliged to you if you would give it either by 

 letter, or, if the beetles are not recognised as "pests" in this 

 country, through the medium of the "Bulletin." 



I am, yours faithfully, 



ROGER PEARS. 



A CASTOR OIL PEST. 



Op hiu sa Melicertc. 



Recently a castor-oil bush in the Gardens was found to be quite 

 devoured by Caterpillars, which although lew in number had left 

 but few fragments of leaves on the plant. The caterpillars which 

 were nearly all full grown on November 2, were smooth half-loopers 

 2\ inches long. The head was mottled with black and white with a 

 large eye like white patch on each side. The body rather slender was 

 finely mottled dark blue grey, or blue, or white black grey and 

 brown ; a broad black central band ran down the back and there were 

 a row of velvety black spots above the brown spiracles, and a red 

 brown band below them, the belly was reddish with distant black 

 blotches, in some examples the whole body was mottled blue. The 

 legs were reddish or white blotched, towards the tail on the back is 

 a short horn like process emarginate at the top and black tipped 

 with red. 



The caterpillars were indeed very variable in colour, they were 

 very active springing to the ground when disturbed and hiding in 

 the grass. The following day some had spun up in the leaves of the 

 plant. The chrysalis was i\ inch long, thick and covered with 

 a bluish bloom. The first moth appeared on November 14th others 

 two or three days later so that they remained about 10 days in the 

 pupal state. The moths were two inches across the wings, the 

 antennae slender, head and thorax umber brown, the body grey. 

 The upper wings dark umber brown, with a rather darker bar to- 

 wards the tip, and a transverse silvery grey streak towards the 

 base with a broader band behind it, the lower wings velvety black 

 with a transverse silver white bar and lour white spots on the edge, 

 on the other side the wings are dark and light gray with a central 



