THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 79 
yellow, and the hairs are very short; there is usually a tuft 
of reddish hairs on each segment along the dorsal ridge, and 
also two lateral patches of red on each segment. Shortly be- 
fore pupation these reddish patches disappear. The larvae 
feed either just before sunset or just atter sunrise, and in 
no case were attended by ants. They invariably ate the up- 
per surface of the leaves, as the undersurface is very hairy. 
During the day time they hid beneath the leaves, close to the 
midrib, on a silky pad to protect themselves from the rough 
hairs of the food plant. When about to pupate they spin a 
larger pad of silk beneath a leaf, attach themselves by the 
tail and a silk girdle round the middle and gradually assume 
a more cylindrical form. After two days the larval skin ig 
thrown off, the process taking not more than ten minutes. 
Pupa.—Smooth, greenish, somewhat darker than the larva, 
with faint dorsal stripes on the abdomen. The day after pu- 
pation a large number of small brown dots develop over the 
dorsal surface. All living pupae were found beneath the 
leaves of the food plant, though three empty pupal skins were 
found on curled dead leaves beneath the food plants; these 
leaves probably were shed after the imagines had emerged. In 
captivity the larvae pupated either on the upper or under 
surface of the leaves, or occasionally on the side of the breed- 
ing box. The duration of the pupal stage, from the time of 
casting the larval skin to the emergence of the perfect insect, 
was in all those noted twelve days. This was in midsummer; 
the spring brood may possibly take longer. The wings begin 
to show colour a day before emergence, the colour appearmg 
first at the outer margin. Most of the butterflies emerged be- 
fore nine o’clock in the morning. 
Food Plant.—Pomaderris lanigera, Sieb., a shrub growing 
to a height of 5 feet, though usually less, found in isolated 
localities on the Hawkesbury sandstone, near Sydney. The 
upper surface of the leaves is a dark green, the lower surface 
very hairy and slightly reddish. The young stalks are very 
ferruginous, and the under surface of the female butterfly 
bears a close resemblance to the dying yellow leaves of the 
food plant. ’ 
Parasites.—A Dipterous larva on several occasions emerged 
from the butterfly larva and pupated. From these pupae I 
bred a fly belonging to the genus Mitogramma, a typical group - 
of the Tachinidae. From some pupae I bred several Hymen- 
opterous parasites belonging to the genus Chalcis.. Mr. W. W. 
Froggatt, who has examined the parasites, tells me that the 
members of the genus Chalcis are parasitic upon small moths 
and rarely on butterflies. 
