122 CRYPTOPHASA. 
live in tlie larva state ; reflecting on the singulantjr 
of which, Ave are struck at the wonderful means of 
self-preservation which the great Author of Nature 
has bestowed on different members of the animal 
creation, among which we know insects of every 
country abound with examples. The great enemy 
against which these larvas take such precaution, is 
the mantis or walking-leaf, which abound in New 
South Wales, devouring multitudes of larvae in the 
day-time. The natives also seek these wood-boring 
caterpillars as a delicious article of food, climbing 
high trees and searching for them with great labour. 
In addition to the preceding species of Cryp- 
tophasa, ]\Ir. Lewin has also described one of the 
Noctuidce forming a section w^ith the same name, 
in which the palpi are similar in form to those of 
the Bombycideous section, but the antennae are 
thread-shaped in both sexes, and the tongue short 
and spiral, but sometimes scarcely discernible. The 
species is named C. strigata^ and has light wain- 
scot-coloured wings, the anterior with a brown 
stripe from the shoulder to the end, and the pos- 
terior with a broad silvery fringe, the whole insect 
being silvery, especially near the stripe. The larva 
of this species is proA-ident and wood-boring, enter- 
ing the sappy branches or slender stems of the 
Banksia serrata, where it forms a cell, having its 
entrance barricaded with a fabric of interwoven 
web and excrement; under which the larva con- 
veys its food by nightly perambulations, that is, 
60 much of a leaf of the above tree as it can con- 
