NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16020, 11 September 1915, Page 5 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

;_*._' h'y'.-;, 'V,.'..* BY J. I>EOTQIOSD;v».i.S.V *.«.«. ," v In all parts of New Zealand there is.-"* very common daylight moth, named Nyctemera annulate, but commonly called the magpie-moth, I believe, on account- of its sooty black wings, with cream marks. Its body is black, bat is ornamented with orange rings, and it is very noticeable in th© early mornings of summer, when it flies high in the' air, frequently close to the tops of large trees. The larva, or caterpillar, is black, but dark red lines ran down the back and sides, and out of the skin there spring tufts of black hairs. The caterpillar is seen travelling over country roads and paths at the rate of about four" feet a minute, a fairly rapid pace for a creature of the caterpillar kind. It has been accused of committing several classes of crimes. One is that it devastated the Wangaehu district, in Wan- , ganui county, a few years ago. by devouring the oat crops, but in this case the .charge was not proved, because the evidence of identification was faulty. Another charge is that on one occasion, also in the Wanganui County, it crossed a railway line on a steep grade in its tens of thousands, and stopped an express iof thousands, and stopped an express train, the wheels after crushing t'.io insects' bodies, failing to grip the rails. ' The insect is a native, and Mr. M. X. | Watt, of Wanganui, hit a commendable effort to add to our knowledge of the I habits of the Dominion's insect life, lias • exposed some of this little creature" {affairs. He finds that as soon as tho I caterpillar is hatched from the egg, it J makes its .first meal off the empty shell. j Later, it feeds on the food plant, but it I eats only the under part of the leaf, and ! does not supply conspicuous evidence of its presence by eating right through. If it finds it necessary, for defensive purposes, to drop to the ground, it uses a silken thread in order to regain its position. By the same means it reaches fresh feeding places. The slightest disturbance at this stage induces it to hurridely drop from a leaf. As soon as it reaches the ground, it curls itself up, and some of the long black hairs, intermingling, protect the head. It has an aversion to overcrowding. When two caterpillars come together, each.rears up the fore part of the body and strikes from side to side, and sometimes ■ makes apparent attempts to bite. In later stages the caterpillar feeds almost exclusively on the upper parts of -leaves. It seems to become less timorous, and, while feeding, freely exposes itself. - : ; Instead ,of seeking . seclusion, it becomes a nomad, and often ranges over vast areas—from a caterpil- .*'' lar's point of viewin search of - food. Large holes eaten in the leaves of the food plant advertise its presence. Mr. Watt's experiments seem -to show that its eyesight is poor, and that it is stone deaf. No noise, apparently, produced the < - slightest effect on it, but it responded'; to the minutest vibration of the leaf on j which it fed.; ,; / =

The caterpillar before beginning to toil at its cocoon, preparatory to -making the very momentous change in life from a mere "larva to a pupa or chrysalis, becomes restless, and 'wanders aimlessly about the ; food plant, but seldom"' eats anything. Then it abandons the ; foodplant completely. It makes the cocoon on or near the ground. Under the loose bark of trees is a favourite place. Actual ■pinning operations are conducted for two days. The cocoon, when finished, is oval, and is in two parts. The outer part is a fluffy case. When this has been constructed, the caterpillar rests for several hours.* The inner part is closer and more compact, and sticky, and contains some of the long black hairs from the body. When the whole structure is finished the caterpillar rests in an inverted. position. About two days later it appears as a pale , ■whit©.,"; chrysalis. .-'".*> Its t*jt colour soon changes to a shining black, with t rows lof small yellow spots, and i a yellow stripe at the tip rof the wing case. % These colours are retained . for nearly : the -:•' whole time : of I the 'chrysalis stage, and then the yellow disappears, leaving nothing but black. In from three ; . weeks ito * five ■'■■ weeks, per-- • haps 'six' weeks, the • chrysalis :is rent, 5 and the . perfect insect \ comes forth, a gay and i \ beautiful,moth. f- { V .

-Mr.? H. Fraser. of Murchison. Nelson," reports an Interesting -incident; associated;; : with ) the South Island robin. He was -i/; having lunch with several friends in the I forest one Sunday * recently, and;; a robin C-. ; happed > along with i a -'• j characteristically f friendly air. 'i He was T given r a quantity of f ; breadcrumbs, and then Mr. Fraijr threw -*>-; a. lighted match cm the ground. The y>) robin ? hopped rupto " it, looked ;it for at?short time, with £ its "? remarkably intelli-" gent eyes, and then picked it up, flew ;_■•-■ away: with it . for five "or ;' six ; feet, and .pot "*a it down on the ground; 1 still alight. Mr. Fraser set another match : for ■ the visitor, 5 i who picked it up also. ft On \ this occasion, however, it took hold of the; lighted - end, and quickly dropped .it again. Mr. Fraser States that if anybody doubts these j|; • statements he can produce the local postmaster and constable as , witnesses, but this 'is • hardly necessary, asi other friends | of the' South Island robin I have noted : this habit. Sir "Walter; Boiler states that miners on the West Coast - made ; a - prac- :: ; _ tice, when they met a robin, of lighting * a few matches .in a heap and then : withdrawing a '■•■ few : ; steps % and % watching "V the bird's actions. Sometimes a lighted match ? :p stuck to i the bill and \ made a burn, bus :>- this only increased the" bird's surprise' and " excitement. "You = probably > know i also," Mr. Fraser says, " that if a robin is given • an extra large :- crumb of I bread " he» will carry it off and bury -it in moss, in the same way as a dog buries a bone."- •

; '£. correspondent has ' supplied s some notes on the quinnat salmon. He states that in April last he was at one of the big rivers that flow from the glaciers. of the Southern Alps. The river is very wide at the place where he was, and it divided with many streams. He was in time to see the salmon going up, the - - river to spawn. They were passing. up ; the rapids in goods numbers, looking like ...; /■. a shoal of porpoises, five or six swim-"S ming close together and making a.' noise _ with their fins, which were beating against, the strong current. They seemed to be from two feet to three feet long, and, probably weighed about 301b ?or 401b each. Further up, in , the shallow ,',■./' stream, they, were scooping out holes in the shingle about twelve feet long and six feet wide. There were about sixty fish, * in splendid condition, apparently, in and around these holes. Some days later the correspondent found several dead, salmon on the shore. They were very dilapidated. AH their teeth were gone, the under parts' of their bodies were raw and covered with sores, their tails were merely .bones,' the t fins on the back were worn down, and the " ~. tops of their heads were sore, presumably from the effort* to shift the shingle in ■•- order to make* the spawning bed. - Some of themmaleshad a protruding lower; -V; jaw, like a hook. , The correspondent ■ adds: "It seems that after they have . v finished spawning they cover-up the bed, *.- ae it looks the same as before they started, except that 4 the place ;. has been disturbed. As the water is smooth where the beds are, it -is '. easily \ seen. . ; After . that they, wander around as though there was no further object in: life and are too weak and feeble even 1 to get back from where they came. • •" 1 - have- found dead bodies lying in the shallows, making food for hawks and seagulls. As the river is a snow*river."and is fed by the glaciers, the ar.it hot north-wester in f the * spring brings down a great lot of * water and shingle and fills up many of the streams.. = and makes fresh ones. This goes on con- ■ tinually "till the cold weather again sets -j-_ : _ in and reduces the quantity of water com- ~ ing J'iwn. I never saw any small fish mV'-; the river." ~ . ,;-'- •;-.. %■- ? z - \--