Butterflies And Moths

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Butterflies And Moths

(Part II.) TX last week's notes some mention wae made of several species of moths to be found in New Zealand, but there ie jiiet one other that may as well be considered now before passing on to note something of our butterflies. This moth is the largest of the common moth* to be found in our country and has two names—the Giant Hawk moth and the Sphinx moth. Its colouring ie interesting. The two larger wings—the upper ones—are grey, speckled with a darker shade, while on the greyish black lower wings are to be seen two bands of a paler *hade, one band being near the outer edge and the other about a quarter of an inch from this outer band and parallel to it. Larger in size than the big Puriri moth, the Giant Hawk measures some three and a half inches from wing tip to wing tip. The stout body is grey, the sides being striped with black, white and pink colourings. Toward* their outer ends the antennae become thicker, the tips of each terminating in a hook. Very rapid in flight, this moth is observed to feed at dusk, hovering over a flower and, while poised in the air, iiisertiii" its enormous proboscis into the nectary of the flower in order to extract the honey therefrom. (The proboscis is the hollow tube or organ attached to the head or connected with the mouth of various animals and insect*. au<l generally used for taking in food or drink. Jn the case of moths ami butterflies the mouth may be described as this sucking organ, being formed by the maxillae, or elongated jaws. In some species the proboscis is lOin long.) Plants of the convolvulus family. the kumara. arc as a rule chorcn by the female (limit Hawk moth as the place in which to lay her the caterpillars hatching therefrom growing quickly to the size of 3:n to .'{Aill as they feed upon the leaves. On account* of its voracious appetite that causes it to devour the whole of the foliage of a kumara plant this caterpillar also has the name of kumara grub. A distinguishing mark is the presence of a sort of curved horn on the top of the last segment of its body. Toward, the end of the summer these caterpillars go underground, where the change to pupae takes place, these pupae being about 2in long and dark brown in colour. I'.ailv the following summer the full-grown insect emerjre* from it* pupa case, to begin apain the cycle of insect life — p£g. larva, pupa, insect. The grub of this Giant Hawk U called ■•hotete" by the .Maori, and is

regarded ae one of their worst enemies as far as agriculture is concerned —a position readily understood when we realise the extensive damage done to crops such as the kumara. Another moth causing considerable damage to crops is the Diamond Black, hut instead of being a giant among its fellows, this one i* very tiny, a mere in width from tip to tip of itA slender wings. Cocoons and caterpillars of this moth may be found on the underside of cabbage leaves, the caterpillars dropping to the ground on a fine thread when disturbed. From pests let us now turn our thoughts to something less troublesome and more beautiful —butterflies. We cannot forget, however, that among these dainty creasures is one of our worst garden pests—the white butterfly—but as this insect has been fully dealt with in a previous article we will now pas<> it over quickly and give attention to something less distasteful. In their very names we see and hear something of their beauty, the«?e butterflies of ours.

Comparatively few in nnmbers, when compared with those to be found in other lands, or with the number of moths to be found in our own land, our butterflies nevertheless are interesting to note. I'ainted Lady. Ked Admiral, Blue Moon. Blue Fairy — the.-e are some of tlii-i-e to be seen here. The second one. the Ked Admiral, i*. perhaps, the most attractive of our common butterflies, with its dark brown body and almost black Wings. Each upper wing lias two bande of white marking near the tip. and a red band nearer the insect's body, -while on the lower winpe are broad bands of red dotted with white and black. The axil of a leaf, near the point of connection with the etem of the plant, is the place chosen by thus butterfly for the laying of its eggs. the caterpillars hatching from them beinjr black with white marking? and red spot?. They are large caterpillars with rmall bla-ok tufts of hair along

the sides of the body. The pupa of this butterfly ie often found eiiepended 'from"a fence or branch, and lias a hard skin. Blue Fairy i« often miscalled a moth. Being the smallest butterfly in New Zealand it has good claim to the delicate name assigned to it. The blue colouring of the wings ie also a reason for that name being given. Being a butterfly and not a moth, ae is often thought, this insect folds its wings in an erect position when not in flight, and as the underparts of the wings are dull grey the insect is very hard to detect when resting in thie way. It is also called the Common Grass butterfly, and on a hot sunny day may be seen in ite hundreds on the common flowers of the field and roadside, and also on some garden flowers such as tlie Michaelmas daisy. Painted Lady is another very pretty butterfly, not as large as the Red Admiral. Its body is of a medium brown colour, and the wings are of the same shade, but lighter at the part where they are joined to the body; the tips of the two upper

wings are marked with patches of very dark brown, these darker patches being in turn marked with white and salmon, while the lighter brown portion of the rest of the wing is marked t with black. More rapid in flight, aiid more keen in the faculty of sight, the Painted Lady is not to be as readily observed as is the Ked Admiral. "Once in a blue moon' , is a saying well known to most of and it may well be applied to the observations of one of our rarer butterflies of very apt name—the Blue Moon. A strange fact about some species of butterfly to be seen in New Zealand is their irregular appearances; one such instance may be cited in connection with the Blue Moon, when in the space of a few weeks a well known Nature student had sent to him for identification no fewer than five specimens of this butterfly, which he had not seen alive in this country for at least ten vears.

Hypolimnas bolina, as the expert would call it, thie butterfly k ranked as the largest to be found in this country, the female, larger than the male, having a wing-span of more than 4in. The pattern on the wiime of the female is very varied, it being a rarity to find two quite alike* Patches of purple, orange, white and cream form the markings, but the proport ione of each colour present va.rv greatly with individual members of this order. By some, however, these varied colours are held to be not ae rich and intenee as the colourings of the male of the species, whoee characteristic markings are round white spots fringed with electric blue, on a wing background of jet black hence the name, for the resemblance to "blue moons'' is very striking.

.8y... Olga P. Burton.

The intense iridescence of this blue colour in some lights is particularly beautiful. The male* are all alike in size and colour, beincr somewhat smaller than the female, for thev measure less than 4in. while the female, as already mentioned, exceeds 4in in tip to tip width. This species has a wide ran»e of habitat in the tropics—lndia, Xorth Australia and the we.*te-n ielands of the Pacific. The question of whether they breed regularly in New Zealand or not is still debated, but observer* in other climes have found that the e»;rs of the Blue Moon are deposited on the leaves of several types of plants; they are light jrreen. and the caterpillar is brown and black, poeseeeinjr short spines which cause irritation when touched.