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of Tiger-beetle besported themselves, *Cicindela tuberculata , Fabr., and 
*C. parryi , White. Concerning the latter I have the following note: 
“ On the ground; easier to catch than the British species; does not 
fly so readily; somewhat cryptic,” which quite bears out Commander 
Walker’s remarks (loc. cit. } p. 152). 
But on that afternoon most of the insects in the garden seemed 
to be holding high festival at the blooms of a native shrub, the White 
Kata (* Metrosideros scandens, Sol.). Here I secured several females 
of the pretty little * Chrysophanus sallustius, Fabr., one of the com¬ 
monest of the few indigenous New Zealand butterflies, which, in 
general appearance, is much more suggestive of Nemeobius lucina, 
Linn., than of an English Copper. 
At the same flowers were a number of the black and white day¬ 
flying moth, *Deilemera annulata, Boisd. 1 This, the first moth that 
I saw in New Zealand, soon became an even more familiar friend 
than the little butterfly. It is interesting in several respects. In 
the first place, it is peculiar to New Zealand; then it is the only 
representative of the Hypsids in those islands, though a closely allied, 
but abundantly distinct species, occurs in Australia. Black, with 
sharply defined white markings and a yellow body, it looks the very 
picture of a distasteful species. Its flight is slow, flapping its wings 
like a butterfly, for which it is usually mistaken by the uninitiated. 
It is distinctly hard to kill; when pinched it exudes a yellow juice, 
which is tasteless; but I did not detect any definite scent. Formerly 
its larva fed on various native species of Senecio , but since the intro¬ 
duction and wide-spread growth of Kagwort it has attached itself to 
that plant, on which both larva and imago are common enough. 
There is every reason to expect that it will increase in abundance, 
and certainly no one will grudge it its food. 
On the same Kata bush I took the most conspicuous of New 
Zealand butterflies, *Pyrameis gonerilla , Fabr., a handsome insect 
closely allied to our Ked Admiral, more beautiful perhaps in colour, 
but scarcely as graceful in its flight. Bombus hortorum, Linn., a 
recent introduction, reminded me of home, as did the familiar flies, 
Eristalis tenax , Calliphora erythrocephala , Meig., and Lucilia sp.; 
but another common fly, Pollenia stygia , is confined to Australasia. 
Two immature Stick-insects ( Phasmidae ) complete the list of visitors 
to the white flowers of the Kata that afternoon. 
1 The generic name Nyctemera is now confined to a few large species from 
Africa, placed among the Lymantriids. 
