35 
it is now widely dispersed and very plentiful in the South 
Island.“ (Notes on £. tenax in New Zealand by W. W. Smith, 
in the Entom. M. Mag. London, 1890, p. 240 —242.) 
From this article I borrow the following passages: 
»How long before the spring 1888 the species was intro- 
duced into these islands I cannot say; it certainly could not 
have been many years; but the two previous seasons were 
most unfavourable for its increase, being for the most part 
very wet and windy; since then we have been favoured with 
exceptionally good seasons....* ,The two hot, dry summers 
in succession, with the intervening mild winter, produced, no 
doubt, the natural conditions for its complete and rapid esta- 
blishment in N. Z.; I am supported in my views by the unplea- 
santly numerous cases of typhoid, dysentery, diarrhoea, and 
of course, the inevitable ,Grippe“; the presence of these dis- 
eases betokens also the presence of the natural conditions 
requisite for FH. tenar, viz.: stagnant pools, ponds, drains and 
sewers etc., caused by the abnormally dry season, while the 
creeks and rivers have not been so low for twenty-seven 
years: .%:.,..* 
»l have endeavoured to show what appears to me to have 
been the chief cause of the irruption of /. tenax in N. Z. 1890; 
it however leaves unexplained how and when the species was 
introduced; but in the absence of positive proof, I think it 
probable that it came to N. Z. from the Pacific coast; the 
numerous intervening groups of islands would provide a ready 
means of dispersion, if the necessary condition for its larval 
stage existed in the islands; nevertheless, I think that in all 
probability it was imported direct by the mail-steamers which 
have plied monthly between S. Francisco and Auckland for the 
last twenty years; from this source unquestionably came Car- 
pocapsa pomonella (1) in imported apples to N. Z.; possibly we 
may soon have records of the occurrence of EF. tenaxy in other 
islands of the Pacific.‘ 
(1) A small moth which infects apple-plantations. 
