The larva feeds on the roots of various plants, forming numerous white silken galleries in the earth where it resides. In colour it is dark chocolate-brown with a yellowish head and white markings. It is very large, considering the size of the future moth, full-grown specimens often measuring as much as 10½ lines in length. About the end of September these caterpillars are transformed into pupæ, and the moths emerge in a month or six weeks' time. The perfect insect may be often disturbed amongst brushwood. It is very sluggish on the wing and usually drops to the ground, where it is very inconspicuous. It also has a habit of running into any crevice immediately on the approach of an enemy. This peculiarity is shared by the other members of the genus _Oecophora_, of which there are large numbers in New Zealand. Family TINEIDÆ. _Semiocosma platyptera_ (Plate XII., fig. 8, 8a larva, 8b pupa). This is one of the largest of the _Tineidæ_ found in New Zealand, measuring fully fifteen lines across the expanded wings. Its larva (Fig. 8a) is abundant under the bark of dead henau trees (_Eleocarpus dentatus_), feeding on the soft inner surface, but leaving the hard wood untouched. In colour it is pale yellow, the head and prothorax are dark brown and corneous, and the remaining segments are provided with two horny warts, from which numerous hairs arise; its legs are all very small, and the caterpillar is considerably attenuated posteriorly; it is very active, wriggling about with great violence when disturbed. {98}The pupa (Fig. 8b) is enclosed in a compact cocoon, constructed of minute fragments of wood, firmly woven together with silk, and attached to the inner surface of the bark, where it may be soon found by careful searching, and the finest specimens may thus be easily reared in captivity. The perfect insect appears about November, and may be often observed at rest on the trunks of trees; its pale hind-wings are completely concealed by the dark upper pair, which render its discovery very difficult. The sexes may be at once distinguished by their size, the males being much smaller than the female (Fig. 8) and usually lighter in colour. {99}CHAPTER VII The Neuroptera.