peculiar way they fly, so different from all the other groups. They
have broad, short, thickset heads and bodies; and the antennae, wide
apart at the base, are produced at the tip into an irregular club
or pointed hooked process. The legs are perfect in both sexes and
often spined; most of them are brown or reddish yellow, more or less
variegated. The larvae are long, cylindrical, naked caterpillars, with
the head hard and horny; the prothorax narrow, forming a regular neck.
When full grown they attach themselves by the tail to the leaf, which
they roll round themselves into a primitive kind of cocoon.
Messrs. Meyrick and Lower have lately revised this group (Trans. Roy.
Soc. S.A. 1902), and list 79 species that they identify, and note
a number of others that are so badly described that they cannot be
determined.
_Netrocoryne repanda_, one of our largest species, of a uniform light
brown tint, has the tips of the wings darkest, the centres of the fore
pair marked with large translucent blotches of a pale yellow tint, and
a single spot in each hind one. It has an extended range from Sydney to
N. Queensland.
The Genus _Hesperilla_ contains 31 species, some of which are very
local, while others have a very wide range: _H. picta_ is about 2
inches across the wings; its general colour is dark brown with a dull
greenish tint on the body, ornamented with five yellow spots on the
fore wing; the centres of the hind ones and the hind margins of the
same yellow colour, and with the markings on the under surface more
numerous. _H. ornata_ is a smaller species, of a general dark brown;
the fore wings carry a number of spots and four angular golden yellow
blotches; the hind pair are reddish orange mottled on the under surface
of the body, the tips of the fore and the whole of the hind wings with
pale yellow. It has an extended range from Victoria up to Cooktown
N.Q. _Trapezites iacchus_, one of our commonest species, described by
Fabricius in 1775, measures 1¾ inches in length, and is of a uniform,
dull brown colour shaded with yellow; the fore wings are blotched
with small irregular marks; those on the hind pair are parallel and
confluent. The under surface is dull yellow; the fore wings are mottled
and the hind ones marked with four to five small purple spots ringed
with black. It has a wide range from Tasmania over Australia. _T.
symmomus_ is a darker, larger species very similar in the markings,
only the yellow spots are more defined. It does not range further north
than Brisbane.
[Illustration: =Figs. 109= and =110=.--Earlier
stages of the Palm Skipper, _Pamphila augiades_
(Fielder).
109. Larva. 110. Pupa.]
_Apaustus lascivia_ is one of the small dull brown skippers washed with
yellow, with pale slender transverse bars crossing the centre of the
wings; the body is marked with white; the under surface is dull yellow,
with the tips of the fore wings darkest. The larvae of _Pamphila
augiades_, another common species in the Sydney gardens, and found as
far north as Bowen, Queensland, feeds upon the foliage of young palms;
that of _Erynnis sperthias_ is found on the same plant.
_Badamia exclamationis_ is a light brown species with the fore wings
narrowed to the extremities, and the hind pair arcuate on the edges.
It measures 2 inches across the wings, and ranges from Sydney to
Cape York. In the Genus _Hasora_ we have several large skippers, all
northern species, with the upper surface dark; the under surface richly
marked with purple and pale golden yellow in _H. discolor_; and with
simple silvery stripes on the under surface in _H. hurama_.
HETEROCERA.
Moths.
Moths differ from butterflies in having the abdomen stout and thickset,
and not pinched or constricted in front at the junction with the
thorax; and the antennae, instead of being clubbed or thickened at
the tips, are either slender filiform appendages or are uniformly
thickened, pectinate, or feathered; when of the latter form they are
much more pronounced in the males.
[Illustration: =Fig. 111.=--Head of Hawk Moth.
_a_, upper lip; _b_, mandibles; _c_,
proboscis; _d_, lower lip; _e_, antennae; _f_,
eyes.
(Redrawn from Duncan’s “Transformations of Insects.”)]
Most moths are nocturnal in their habits; in the day time they are
usually found hiding among the foliage or resting in dark corners,
and many can be obtained by shaking the bushes over a net. The larger
species may be killed at once in the cyanide bottle, but must be
transferred to a box as soon as they are dead, for they rub very
easily; the smaller forms can be placed alive in glass-topped or chip
boxes, and afterwards killed, and then mounted before they are stiff.
The members of a few groups fly about in the daylight; for instance
_Agarista glycine_, our vine moth, but they are exceptions. The
beautiful hawk moths only flit about at twilight, and are known as
“crepuscular” moths.
This great group contains some giants of the insect world, such as some
of the Atlas Moths of India, and Wood Moths of Australia, which are as
big as small bats; while among the Micro-lepidoptera we come to many
tiny creatures which require to be examined with a lens before their
identity can be established.
The typical moth caterpillar constructs a stout silken bag or cocoon,
within the shelter of which it casts its skin and becomes a well
defined pupa; but there are many which bury themselves in the ground,
or pupate in cavities in timber that form no true cocoon but simply
undergo their transformations in such secure hiding places.
[Illustration: =Fig. 112.=--Wings of Moth.
_=A=_, Fore wing: _c.m_, costal margin;
_o.m_, outer margin or termin; _i.m_, inner margin;
_a.a_, apex; _o.a_, outer angle or tornus; _c_,
discoidal cell; _d_, discocellulurs.
_=B=_, Hind wing: _c.n_, costal nervure; vein
12 fore wing, 8 of hind wing; _s.n_, sub-costal nervure;
_m.n_, median nervure; _1a_, _b_, _c_, three
branches of internal nervure; _2_, _3_, two branches
of median nervure; _4_, _5_, _6_, three branches
of radial nervure; _7_, _8_, _9_, _10_,
_11_, five sub-costal branches of fore wing; _7_
sub-costal nervure of hind wing.]
Moths are well represented in all parts of Australia, but are most
numerous in well wooded country: a considerable amount of work has
been done in this group by Messrs. Lewin, Scott, Walker, Meyrick,
Lower, Turner, and others in Australia, and Messrs. Guérin, Boisduval,
and many other foreign writers. I have in the arrangement of the
families followed Lower’s Catalogue of Victorian Heterocera (Victorian
Naturalist Vol. x. 1893--Vol. xiv. 1898).
Family 1. Connecting-link Moths.
CASTNIIDAE.
The members of this group comprise a few insects that form an
intermediate state of development between butterflies and moths;
for while there is no doubt that they are moths, they have hooked
or thickened antennae like the “Skippers,” somewhat similar habits,
and even the general colouration. They are chiefly confined to South
America and Australia. _Euschemon rafflesiae_ is one of the
largest hesperid-like forms; is black, blotched with white, and is
found in the northern parts of Australia.
The Genus _Synemon_ contains a number of small reddish brown moths
which flit about over the grass, just like small butterflies: _Synemon
sophia_ is about 1½ inches across the wings, which are brown, slightly
marbled in front, and the hind pair blotched with dull yellowish
brown; it is common on the grassy flats along the eastern coast. _S.
hesperoides_ is common in Victoria in similar localities; is about the
same size, but of a darker brown colour; the fore wings marbled with
fine wavy grey lines, and the hind ones with a rusty red tint.
Family 2. Butterfly Moths.
URANIIDAE.
These are large usually day-flying moths with slender antennae; broad
wings, the hind pair crenulated and produced into tails; the abdomen
like that of a stout butterfly, and never extending beyond the hind
wings.
The typical species (Genus _Urania_) are found in America, others in
Madagascar; but our beautiful forms belong to the Genus _Nyctalemon_,
one species of which, _Nyctalemon orontes_, is very common in North
Queensland. In the neighbourhood of Cairns a score of this species can
often be taken in the early morning resting on the low scrub, and small
swarms of them can often be seen flying across the rivers in the middle
of the day. This species is a very handsome large velvety black moth
marked with broad dull green bands, and having short creamy swallow
tails. Several very beautiful species are also found in Southern New
Guinea.
Family 3. Day Moths.
AGARISTIDAE.
This family has been lately revised by Hampson (Catalogue of the
Lepidoptera Phalaenae Vol. I. British Museum 1898); he divides them
into 55 Genera containing 225 species, of which some typical forms are
peculiar to Australia; they are conspicuously coloured and further
noticeable from their habit of flying in the daytime. The members of
this family are chiefly confined to the tropical parts of the Old World
and the Australian region; in America a few only are found in Mexico
and Brazil.
[Illustration: =Fig. 113.=--_Phalaenoides glycinae_
(Lewin).
The Caterpillar and Adult of the Vine Moth.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
The Vine Moth, _Phalaenoides (Agarista) glycinae_, better known under
the old generic name of _Agarista_, is one of our regular vine pests
in the caterpillar state, devouring the foliage and young grapes.
The moth lays her eggs upon the vine canes; the grubs when full grown
measure up to 2 inches; are of a general deep greenish yellow tint,
with the whole of the upper surface covered with small tubercles each
bearing a single hair; and they have a band of bright red blotches
round the dorsal surface of the anal segment. They bury themselves
in the ground, forming a dark reddish brown chrysalid enclosed in a
primitive cocoon or covering of particles of earth. The moth measures
2¼ inches across the wings, and is of a uniform black colour marbled
on the head, thorax, and sides of the wings with white; the fore wings
are tipped with white, and an irregular transverse bar of pale yellow
is followed by a smaller blotch through the centre; in the hind pair
the outer margins are irregularly edged with white. _Phalaenoides
tristifica_, formerly known under the name of _Agarista lewinii_, is
slightly smaller; the fore wings are more mottled, and the hind pair
have an irregular white spot in the centre by which it can be easily
identified. _Cruria donovani_, also smaller than the Vine Moth, has
the fore wings mottled with a number of small white blotches, and a
broad irregular patch in the centre of the hind ones. _Eutrichopidia
latina_ comes closer still to the Vine Moth in size and colour, but
can also be easily recognised by having a single broader, irregular,
dull yellow band across the outer half of the fore wings. The Painted
Day Moth, _Agarista agricola_, attracted the attention of our earliest
entomologists by its brilliant colouration, and was described and
figured in colours by Donovan in his “Insects of New Holland” 1805, and
again by Dr. Leach in his “Zoological Miscellanies” published in 1815.
It has a wide range from Sydney northward, and the several sub-species
placed under this name extend its range to New Guinea and Timor. This
is now the sole type of the Genus _Agarista_, in which so many of our
species were formerly placed; it is a handsome black moth; measures
up to 3 inches across the wings, the fore-pair of which are richly
blotched with pale yellow, deep orange, and blue; in the hind pair
the centre is bright red and blue, and the margin is white. The head
and thorax are pale yellow above; the legs and under surface red; the
tip of the abdomen dark orange. The larva is a handsome dark coloured
caterpillar clothed with scattered and curious long clubbed hairs.
[Illustration: Plate XXII.--LEPIDOPTERA.
Family NOTODONTIDAE.
1. _Danima banksiae_ (Lewin).
Family AGARISTIDAE.
2. _Hecatesia fenestrata_ (Boisd.).
6. _Agarista agricola_ (Donov.).
Family HYPSIDAE.
3. _Nyctemera amica_ (White).
Family SPHINGIDAE.
4. _Cizara ardenia_ (Lewin).
8. _Hemaris hylas_ (Lewin).
Family LIPARIDAE.
5. _Darala ocellata_ (Walker).
Family SYNTOMIDAE.
7. _Syntomis annulata_ (Fabr.).
Family CASTNIIDAE.
9. _Synemon hesperoides_ (Feld).
Family PYRALIDAE.
10. _Zenckenia recurvalis_ (Fabr.).
(Original photo. Burton.)]
[Illustration: _Plate XXII.--LEPIDOPTERA._]
The Genus _Hecatesia_ contains our curious “whistling moths,” which
fly about just at dusk, making sharp continued notes like the calls
of some of our small cicadas. The sound is said to be produced by the
male rubbing his curiously clubbed antennae against a pellucid ridged
area in the front of the fore wings. Hampson doubts this, and says
it is probably caused by rubbing the tarsal spines against the ribbed
space. _Hecatesia fenestrata_ is a pretty little moth, about 1 inch
across the wings; is of a general dark brown tint; the outer margins of
the fore wings are provided with a broad semi-lunate ribbed band (the
musical apparatus) in front, and two white lines behind; the centre
of the hind pair and abdomen richly blotched with reddish yellow; the
head, antennae, centre of thorax, and outer margins of the wings marked
with white.
Three species of this Genus are recorded from Australia, two of which
were described from the west coast, while _Hecatesia fenestrata_ has a
range from South Australia into N.S. Wales.
Family 4. Ringed Moths.
SYNTOMIDAE.
The typical Genus _Syntomis_, in which Hampson places all our species
that were previously described under the Genus _Hydrusa_, comprises
about 138 species, chiefly confined to Africa, Asia, the Malay
Archipelago and Australia; 12 species are recorded from this country.
They are all rather small moths of a general black or brown tint
mottled with orange yellow or lighter brown.
_Syntomis annulata_, about 1 inch across the outspread wings, has a
very wide range from the Philippines through New Guinea and Australia,
and naturally varies much in different localities; our variety is of a
blackish tint, with six orange spots in the fore wings, and two more
angular blotches on the hind ones; the abdomen is regularly banded with
orange and black. _S. aperta_ measures 2 inches across the wings, which
are of a brownish tint with large blotches of orange yellow occupying
the greater portion of the surface, divided from each other by slender
lines. It ranges from New Guinea and Queensland round to S. Australia,
and has been captured out west about Bathurst, N.S.W.
_Euchromia creusa_ is a very handsome form about 2 inches across the
narrow fore wings, which are black with two large transparent divided
spots forming a double row across them, and another very small one at
the base: the hind pair have two similar blotches. The head, thorax,
and basal portion of the abdomen are black, shot with metallic blue;
the basal abdominal segments are crimson, finely barred with black.
This beautiful moth has a wide range over the Malay Archipelago
and the Pacific Islands, coming down to Thursday Island and North
Queensland.
Many of the foreign species in the larval state feed upon lichens or
grass.
Family 5. Burnet Moths.
ZYGAENIDAE.
These moths form an extensive family represented in most parts of the
world; they are also day-flying moths, and some are very brilliant in
colour. In England some of them are known as “Burnet Moths” and “Green
Foresters.” They have long narrow wings, and the antennae thickened
toward the middle.
Most of our species belong to the Genus _Procris_, which are also
very abundant in Southern Europe. They are small creatures measuring
under 1 inch across the wings, and are of a general dark brown tint
with greenish markings. _Hestiochora bicolor_ is a curious little
moth remarkable for its bright colouration, which has a wonderful
resemblance to one of our small parasitic wasps (_Braconidae_). The
wings are clouded with black; the head and front of the thorax are red,
the hind margin of the latter black; the abdomen black and white.
Family 6. Hawk Moths.
SPHINGIDAE.
The hawk moths have a stout rounded abdomen tapering to a point;
thickened antennae; stout narrow pointed wings; the proboscis or
sucking mouth-tube very long, curled up under the head when at rest,
but capable of being uncurled in front of the head to suck up the
nectar from the deepest tubular flower while the moth is hovering over
it. They hide during the day, and are most active just at twilight,
when they dart about, over, and around the flowering shrubs. Their
caterpillars are very handsome thick cylindrical grubs marked with
brilliant eye spots and stripes of various striking colours, and are
easily distinguished by a curious curved fleshy horn on the dorsal
surface of the tail segment.
They take their scientific name from the fanciful resemblance of their
stiff horny pupae (which are naked and generally buried in the sand
beneath their food plant) to the Egyptian Sphinx, and their popular
names of “hawk” and “humming-bird moth” from their powers of flight.
Our species have been divided into five sub-families, and in Miskin’s
“Catalogue of the Australian Sphingidae” (Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland)
42 species are listed under 13 genera; to which list a few species have
since been added.
The first group contains what are popularly called the “Clear-winged
Hawk-moths,” from the large bare scaleless areas in the wings; they fly
about in the daytime with a loud humming noise, very much resembling
some of the Carpenter-bees when hovering over the flowers. _Hemaris
kingi_ is marked with black and yellow, and has a thick tuft of stiff
hairs on either side of the abdomen; it is not uncommon in Southern
Queensland. _H. hylas_ is a similar stout moth with unspotted wings
which has an extended range across Queensland to Japan, Asia, and
Africa; while a third species, _H. janus_, ranges from Brisbane to
Rockhampton. In the Genus _Macroglossa_ 4 species are recorded from
Queensland, some of which extend into our north coast scrubs.
In the second group we have a very distinctive little banded hawk moth,
_Cizara ardenia_, which ranges from New South Wales into Southern
Queensland; most of my specimens come from the Illawarra scrubs,
N.S.W., where the larva feeds upon the wild vine. Its ground colour is
dark brown with narrow grey bands running round and crossing the middle
of the wings, with a curious eye spot on the shoulders. The Genus
_Chaerocampa_ contains a number of large handsome hawk moths, some of
which are introduced species world wide in their range; about 17 are
recorded from Australia. The Silver Stripe, _Chaerocampa celerio_, is a
common European species, that is well known here. French describes the
caterpillar as a vine pest in Victoria; it is a cylindrical greenish
to purple tinted grub with eye spots on the hind segments. The moth
measures 3 inches across the wings; its ground colour is greyish fawn,
with four slender lines of silvery white forming a stripe down the
centre of the fore wings, and the body marked with silver spots; the
hind wings are bright pink. _C. oldenlandi_, which comes close to this
species, feeds upon vines in N.S. Wales. It differs in having no short
oblique silvery stripes on the front of the fore wings, hardly any red
on the hind ones, and has an unbroken silvery dorsal stripe down the
abdomen. _C. erotus_, about the same size, has dark reddish brown
fore wings, slightly marbled, and the hind pair yellow, darkened on
the hind margins; its larvae sometimes feed upon sweet-potatoes. _C.
scrofa_ is a much smaller species of a lighter brown colour, with the
hind wings dull brick red, darkest along the hind margin. This is one
of our commonest species with a wide range over Australia; the brown
small-headed larvae feed upon grass and low herbage. Among our most
striking forms are the two species of the Genus _Coequosa_, both about
the same size, sometimes measuring up to 7 inches across the wings.
_Coequosa triangularis_ is of a reddish brown and grey tint, mottled
on the hind wings with bright yellow, the darker brown forming a large
angular patch in the centre of the fore wings; _C. australasiae_ is
of a light buff or fawn colour, more marbled, with the wedge-shaped
blotch merging into the colouration of the tip of the wing; and the
hind pair yellow, only edged with brown on the hind margin. The
caterpillar of _C. triangularis_, our commoner form, is dull green,
with a rough granulated skin and a small elongate head; the tip of the
abdomen is furnished with a pair of stout plates used as claspers to
cling to its food plant; above this on either side is a black shining
bead-like eye, which is only an ornamental process, but this often
leads people to think that this is the head end, and in some places it
is known as the double-headed caterpillar. It feeds upon the foliage of
_Persoonia_ and _Acacia_, and when touched has a habit of swinging its
body round, as if trying to strike; when full grown it is enclosed in
a black shining pupa-case hidden among the rubbish beneath the trees.
The Genus _Macrosila_ contains 4 species, two of which are not uncommon
in N.S. Wales. The She-oak Hawk-moth, _M. casuarina_, measures up to
5 inches across the wings, and is of a general greyish mottled brown
colour, with a darker blotch in the centre of the fore wings, which
are slightly mottled with black toward the tip; and the hind wings are
often very dark brown.
The Convolvulus Hawk-moth, _Protoparce convolvuli_, ranges all over the
world, the caterpillars feeding upon the convolvulus; and it is also
sometimes quite a pest upon sweet-potatoes. The moth measures 3½ inches
across the wings, and is of a general dark grey colour thickly mottled
with dark brown; the abdomen has a broad brown stripe down the centre
with short transverse white, pink, and black bars on either side.
The Privet Hawk-moth, _Sphinx ligustri_, has light brown fore wings,
the abdomen and hind wings being marked with pink and black. It, like
the vine hawkmoth, has a world wide range, and the caterpillars, with
their delicate green tint beautifully striped with white, are very
common in our gardens toward the end of summer on privet and other
garden shrubs. In spite of their large size, they are very difficult to
detect until the damaged foliage calls attention to their presence.
[Illustration: =Fig. 114.=--_Protoparce convolvuli_
(Linn.).
The Hawk-moth of the sweet potato and convolvulus.
(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]
Family 7. Wood Moths.
HEPIALIDAE.
This is a very distinct group, the members of which usually have
long deflexed wings rounded at the extremities, and the neuration of
both pairs of wings alike; the tongue is generally obsolete; ocelli
absent; the tibiae without spurs; while the abdomen is very long and
cylindrical in the typical forms. They lay their eggs upon the bark of
different forest trees; the little caterpillars, after feeding for a
short time on the surface, tunnel into the tree trunk, becoming fleshy
naked grubs which bore cylindrical chambers of various forms in the
timber, in which they sometimes remain for years, finally pupating in
the burrows. The moth develops and escapes in the summer from the pupal
case, which is frequently found projecting from the hole in the trunk
or root after it has emerged. The moths are generally found clinging
to the tree trunks, where they are easily captured. They frequently
come to the light at night, but are difficult things to kill and mount,
on account of their size and the ease with which the scales rub off.
The females of some species lay many thousands of eggs. If these eggs
are not removed from captured specimens and the bodies stuffed before
setting, they generally become greasy and spoil in a very short time.
On account of their large size and beautiful colouration the wood
moths have attracted a great deal of attention; Scott figured and
described a number in his “Australian Lepidoptera,” part of which
has been published by the trustees of the Australian Museum N.S.W.
Meyrick published a revision of the family (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W.
1889), which is much more satisfactory, and has been followed in these
notes. The moths, which Meyrick considers to be the ancestral forms
of the _Bombycina_, have a world wide distribution, and are well
represented in Australia.