235 
The larvae of Termissa nivosa are said to be found under the bark of Eucalypts 
about Melbourne (p. 250). 
The " Gum-tree Moth," so called by Mr. French, Ecesdia lugens, is figured by 
him at Part V, Plate CXXII. It is a small brown moth and its larvae eat the green 
portion of Eucalyptus leaves, leaving little more than the network of veins. 
Mr. (later Sir) William Macleay (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W , vi, 845, 1881) exhibited 
drawings (supplied by Mr. A. W. Howitt) of caterpillars very destructive to Eucalyptus 
tereticornis in Gippsland. These were provisionally attributed to Orygia (Family 
Arctiidae, and Division Pseudo-Bombyces). Mr. Macleay emphasised the importance 
of inquiries as to the causes of the destruction of our Eucalyptus by insects, and in this 
connection drew attention to his paper in the volume of the Proceedings, p. 536, " On 
a species of the Phasmatidse destructive to Eucalypti." 
t 
Family Liparidse (Brown Tails or Bag-shelter Moths). 
Some of the gregarious larvse of our Australian species form curious silken bags, 
in which they shelter during the day, and come out at night to feed on the foliage. 
Cnd&pteryx collesi is one of our largest bag-like moths, often found round the 
street lamps in the Sydney suburbs. The caterpillars feed on small "White-stemmed 
Eucalypts " and are often found crawling on rocks and fences. They form long silken 
cocoons, and handling them induces skin-irritation because of the deciduous spines 
which force their way through the cocoons. (Froggatt, p. 254.) It is depicted in a 
charming plate in Scott's " Australian Lepidoptera," and is stated to confine itself to 
the Bloodwood (Eucalyptus corymbosa) in the Sydney district. 
Family Bombycidae (Silk- worm Moths). 
Anther ea eucalypti is our commonest species, and the large green caterpillar, 
covered with scattered tubercles tipped with clusters of retractile red and blue spines, 
feeds upon the foliage of Eucalypts, but has acquired a taste for the foliage of the 
cultivated pepper tree (Schinus motte). (Froggatt, p. 259). Prof. Haswell pointed out 
the same fact to me at Woollahra Point, Sydney, where it used commonly to feed on 
Eucahjph s rdbusta. In the beautiful plate inScott's " Australian Lepidoptera," the larvae 
are feeding on Eucalyptus tereticornis. In French's " Handbook of the Destructive 
Insects of Victoria," iii, Plate LI, it is shown feeding on a twig of E. viminalis. 
Family Selidosemidae (Blue Gum Moth). 
Mnesampda privata is a small brown moth which skeletonises certain of our 
Gum trees. It is figured by C. French in his " Destructive Insects of Victoria," Part 
III, Plate XLI. In the Report of the N.S.W. Forestry Commission for the year ending 
30th June, 1919, p. 27, we find that this moth was found to be destructive to fore>Y 
growth, and affects E. globulus chiefly by webbing up the foliage. 
