







30 VI—THE BUTTERFLIES. 
erows very slowly. It is strictly diurnal in its habits, re- 
lapsing into a death-like repose at night. 
The pupa is suspended by the tail to an upright blade 
of the tussock. In one of the specimens I reared, I was 
fortunate enough to witness the actual transformation, and 
during the process, observed it seizing hold of the larval 
skin with its posterior segments, its manceuvres whilst thus 
engaged resembling those of the pupa of Danaida plexippus, 
already described. 
The length of the pupa is about ? inch. Its colour is 
bright green, with a brown line along the edge of each 
wing-case, and several white lines on the sides and back. 
Sometimes the pupa is pale brown with the edge of the 
wing-case and margins of the white lines darker brown. 
The perfect insect appears from the middle of Novem- 
ber until the end of March. It is usually very abundant 
where found, the males being more numerous than the 
females in the proportion of about five to one. It flies 
amonest the tussock grass in a weak and aimless manner. 
When rapidly pursued it has a habit of plunging into a 
tussock and closing its wings, where it remains quite in- 
visible until the danger is past. 
The silver stripes on the under side of the hind-wings 
are very protective to the insect when at rest on its food- 
plant, the striped coloration of the larva and. pupa serving 
similar protective purposes. 
Genus 2—DODONIDIA, Butl. 
Characters as in Argyrophenga, except that vein 11 of the 
fore-wings rises from upper margin of cell, shortly before trans- 
verse vein. 
We have one species in New Zealand. 
DODONIDIA HELMSI. 
(Dodonidia helmsi, Fereday, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xv., 193 (1882).) 
(Plate IV., fig. 164; fig. 17 under side; Plate I., fig. 3 larva, fig. 
4 pupa.) 
This interesting butterfly was discovered by Mr. R. 
Helms, in 1881, on the Paparoa Range, near Greymouth, 
at an elevation of about 1,500 feet above sea-level. Since 
that time it has occurred in certain restricted spots at Wha- 
ngarei, Waitakerei (near Auckland), Thames, Mangate- 
popo stream (near Mount Ruapehu), Wanganui, Tararua 
Ranges, Silverstream, and on the eastern side of Welling- 
ton Harbour, in the North Island; at Picton, on the Dun 
Mountain, on Maungatapu, and the Mount Arthur Table- 
land, near Nelson; also on the Humboldt Range at the 
head of Lake Wakatipu, in the South Island. 
The expansion of the wings is from 2 to 22 inches. On the 
upper side all the wings are dark brown. The fore-wings have 
two broad bands of yellowish-orange, the outer one containing a 
small patch of dark brown near the costa, which touches a white- 
centred black ocellus. The hind-wings have one large patch of 
yellowish-orange containing two ocelli; a large ocellus, sur- 
rounded by a broad ring of reddish-orange, is situated on the tor- 
nus; the tornus is produced into two very broad but short tails, 
which are bordered with white cilia. On the under side the fore- 
wings are light ochreous-yellow; there is a shaded brown patch 
at the base; the termen is broadly bordered with brown, the bor- 
der containing a silver streak; two broad brown patches are 
situated on the costa, the outer one terminated by a small ocel- 
lus, and enclosing a silvery patch near the apex of the wing. 
The hind-wings are silvery, narrowly bordered with deep reddish- 
brown, with five deep reddish-brown stripes running from the 
costa towards the tornus,; the fourth stripe from the base of the 
wing contains three ocelli surrounded by yellow rings; a con- 
spicuous ocellus is situated at the tornus, surrounded by a broad 
orange-red ring. 
This insect appears to vary a little in the extent of the 
yellowish-orange colouring of the upper side. It also varies 
in size, specimens from the North Island being usually 
slightly larger than those from the South Island. 
The larva feeds on a species of sedge (Gahnia seti- 
folia), which always grows abundantly in the beech forests, 
where the butterflies are found. When full grown 
the length of this caterpillar is about 1} inches. 
Its body is much attenuated at each end and 
rather stout in the middle; the head and tail are 
bifid; there are numerous straight, shallow, trans- 
verse wrinkles on each segment, especially towards 
the head. The colour is green, with a number of fine, 
paler and darker green, dorsal and lateral lines; the head 
and thirteenth segment are yellowish. The legs are very 
minute, and the prolegs of moderate size. It is extremely 
susceptible to the attacks of a Dipterous parasite. This 
larva feeds on the leaves of the sedge, eating out long 
notches parallel to the veins of the leaf. These notches are 
the best guides to follow in searching for the larva, as the 
colouring of the caterpillar renders its discovery amongst 
the food-plant extremely difficult. The larve should be 
looked for during November and December. 
The pupa is rather stout, light green or greenish- 
brown, with the edge of the wing-case and the prominences 
formed by the back and palpi edged with dull crimson and 
white. It is suspended by the tail to any firm object in the 
neighbourhood of the sedge. 
The perfect insect usually appears in January and 
February. It is on the wing for a very short period, and 
this fact may account for its apparent rarity. It frequents 
sunny glades in,the beech forest, often at considerable ele- 
vations above the sea-level. This butterfly is very diffieult 
to capture, as it has a most provoking habit of resting on 
the foliage of the beech trees, just out of the collector’s 
reach. 
The rough resemblance to an insect’s head of the short 
tail and accompanying ocellus, on the under side of the 
hind-wings of, this species, has already been referred to. 
Genus 3.—EREBIA, Dalm.. 
Eyes glabrous. Club of antenne abrupt. 
20, 26, and 27 neuration of Hrebia pluto.) 
(Plate B., figs. 
An extensive and essentially Alpine genus inhabiting 
the mountains of Europe, Asia, North America, and South 
Africa. Pupa unattached amongst stem bases of grass. 
An allied form oceurs in Chili. 
