IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20610, 8 January 1929, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

RARE INSECTS. By J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. One of the surprises of those who enter the world of the insects is the large number of rare representatives of that great class in New Zealand. This Dominion has only_ one species of the true hawking dragonflies, distinguished by their large size. It has only one member of a dragonfly family dominant in all tropical and sub-tropical countries. It has none of the most highly evolved dragonflee. The webspmning insects, which have a very distinct order all to themselves, and which make their webs in the form of galleries in the ground or under stones and rocks, are absolutely unrepresented in New Zealand. They seem to live only where the quantity of moisture and measure of warmth combined just suit them. So swift and agile are they that it is almost impossible to hold them in the hand. Although they are described as being too rare and too delicate in their organs to be either harmful or beneficial to man, they have left a fossil record in rocks laid down early in the Permian Period, in the Era of Early Life. From the fact that a genus of birdlouse, named, in Greek, the inhabitant of the kiwi, is found only on kiwis, and that it is closely related to a genus found exclusively on rails and named inhabitants of the rails, it is claimed that the kiwi has some affinity with the rails, represented in New Zealand by the weka, the pukeko, jand the rare Nqtornis. The conclusion is supported by some points in the anatomy of the kiwi, but this does not affect the kiwi’s position in the great family of struthious birds which includes the emu, the moa, and Madagascar’s famous extinct bird, the •Spyornis, believed to be the fabled roc. No sand-bugs have been found in New Zealand. It has only three species of water-boatmen, which swim rapidly in still water by their oar-like, hind legs. New Zealand has more than ’SO of the small inconspicuous leaf-hoppers, which is not surprising, as their family is an immense one, but it has no tree-hoppers, Bizarre insects, whose grubs usually obligingly sit in rows along the twigs of trees and shrubs, and are attended by ants, which collect the sweet honey-dew the grubs produce. Australia and Madagascar are. the headquarters of a wonderful family of beetles, the Buprestid®, known Eopularly as the jewel beetles. Their rilliant colours and graceful shape surpass anything ■ else in the insect world, Australia has no fewer than 766 species of them. New Zealand has only two, and both of these are small. This is somewhat strangely paralleled by a natural order of plants, the Proteac®. It has 950 species, mostly in Australia and Bouth Africa, but ,tff ere ere only two species in New Zealand, the toro, which has a dark red wood, prettily figured, occasionally used for inlaying and ornamental cabinet-making, and the tall, handsome New Zealand honeysuckle, rewarewa, whose beautifully variegated wood is used for cabinet-making and turnery. Mr T, F. Cheeseman found in New Zealand’s poor representation in this family of plants, compared with its abundance in Australia, a very curious and almost inexplicable feature of New Zealand’s plant life. The same may be said of the jewel beetle’s. Now Zealand has no emperor moths, n widespread family. All members of it have a very large wing area. In it are the largest species in the order of the Lepidoptern, the moths and butterflies. An Australian lemperor has a wing expansion of nearly six inches. A magnificent dark brown emperor of North Queensland and Papua measures no less than 10 inches and a-half from wing-tip to wing-tip. The Wanderer, the most conspicuous butterfly in New Zealand—rich orange and brown wings, bordered with black—is very rare here, and usually is seen in gardens or fields. An ally, Danaida chrysippue, ranging Australia, South Africa, the Bast Indies, Western Asia, and Greece, was caught by a boy about four miles from Thames 14 years ago. Later, one was caught at Auckland, two- at Wanganui, and one at Nelson. From high grassy lands near Conk Strait to the tussocky plains of South-, land there may be seen at present a tussock butterfly with pale brown wings. It has never been reported from the North Island, and its absolute restriction to the South Island is regarded as one of the most remarkable features in, the distribution of New Zealand’s butterflies. , Distinguished and rare is lovely Hypolimaß bolina, a permanent resident of Australia, Java, New Guinea, Sumatra, and the Pacific Islands, an.occasional and welcome visitor to this Dominion, Usually, it is seen on the sen coast of New Zealand, having, apparently, anticipated the Southern Cross in the Tasman flight. The first specimen of this visitor was taken by Dr Sinclair in Auckland 73 years ago. The male’s wings are black, or rich brownish black, with large white marks, surrounded by brilliant flashing blue. The female, less brilliant, has brownish wings, whose white blotches are touched with blue. This butterfly may be looked for this month, but'it is so rare here that it may be looked for in vain. The silverstriped hawk-moth of England, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia first appeared in New Zealand about 25 years ago. Auckland, Cook Strait, and Invercargill are the only districts in New Zealand in which it has been recorded. An effort is being made to rectify the absence of the handsome flower-wasps in New Zealand by introducing some from Australia, their headquarters. Australia can well spare them, as 438 species are there, and they may be seen in almost any part of the island continent on any hot, sunny day in spring. The family is important economically, as it is one of the principal checks on the grass-grub. New Zealand is represented in only two families of butterflies. Australia has many members of almost every family known. The higher groups of moths are almost completely absent from New Zealand. Australia is_noted for having the moth with the. heaviest body in the world, the moth with the greatest wing area, the most remarkable of the skipper-moths, the Hesperidfe, and the most beautiful' of the swift-moths. Ambngst New. Zealand’s swift-moths _ is a rare • and beautiful species, Porina character if era, intricately marked.' The swiftly-flying swallow-tails, many with tails on their hind wings, have not been recorded here. The common human flea, Pulex irritans, is sufficiently plentiful in New Zealand, and five other - species of fleas have been introduced, but the only known natives are Parapsyllus australiaeus, named by the Hon, Lionel Rothschild, the world’s highest authority on fleas, and by a species unnamed, found on the long-tailed bat. New Zealand’s poverty in insects is in keeping with its poverty in reptiles and in mammals, the highest form of life. The world, as far as knowledge of insects goes, has about 470,000 species of insects. Species recorded in New Zealand number only 8150, while the Commonwealth, much richer in insects, as in birds, reptiles, and mammals, has at least 37,000 species. New Zealand has 4430 beetles; Australia has 16,660; and the whole world has 195,000. New Zealand has 1620 members of the diptera, the flies; Australia has 2120; in the world, 51,000 have been recorded. New Zealand’s moths and butterflies number about 1190, Australia's 7940, and the world’s 92j000. Norma J. Whitehead and Jean H. Christie, two girls at the Moonlight School, near Blackball, West Coast, have watched a_ female_ tomtit make her home. It was lined with small feathers and bound around the outside with moss. When the nest was completed several white eggs with brown spots were laid. They were hatched in about 15 days. While the female was sitting, the male fed her, flying to the edge of the nest and placing a worm in her bill. Returing to school one morning after an absence of two days, Norma Whitehead found that the nest was uninhabited. The fledglings were on the opposite bank. They had grown magically. On her approach, one flew clumsily down to the road and fluttered across to the nest. That night the whole, family had flown away, leaving their old home.