The expansion of the wings is from 1½ to 1¾ inches. The fore-wings are pale yellowish-brown, sometimes tinged with red. There is an irregular band of dull grey or brown near the termen; _the reniform is small and black; the orbicular minute, also black; the claviform is obsolete_; there are several very indistinct traces of transverse lines towards the base of the wing. The hind-wings are dull yellow, _with a very broad, blackish, terminal band_. The head and thorax are yellowish-brown, and the abdomen is dull yellow. This insect varies a good deal in the ground colouring of the fore-wings, which ranges from dull yellow to brick-red, or even to dark yellowish-brown. The hind-wings are also much darker in some specimens than in others. The larva feeds on the seeds and flowers of various plants. It is extremely variable in its colouring. Some specimens are dull green, with a few obscure red spots on the sides of the anterior segments. Others are brownish-black, with many fine yellow stripes and dots, and the red spots confined to the three anterior segments. Others, again, have numerous olive-green, white, and pale green lines, with a reddish blotch on the side of nearly every segment. This caterpillar is often rather destructive in gardens. Amongst other things, it devours tomatoes and peas, the flowers and young fruit of pumpkins and vegetable marrows, the flowers and leaves of geraniums, veronicas, &c. It is full grown in the autumn. The pupa is concealed in the earth, the insect remaining in this condition until the following summer. {33}The moth appears in January and February. It often flies by day, and may then be seen disporting itself amongst the flowers of the Scotch thistle. Its larva may also be found feeding on these flowers. This insect is practically cosmopolitan; it has occurred in the following countries: Australia, Samoa, India, Ceylon, Madagascar, Africa, Europe, North and South America.[20] Genus 12.--COSMODES, Gn. "Eyes naked. Antennæ in male filiform, shortly ciliated. Thorax with strong transverse anterior and posterior crests. Abdomen strongly crested towards base. Hind-wings with veins 6 and 7 short-stalked."--(Meyrick.) We have only one species in New Zealand. COSMODES ELEGANS, Don. (_Phalæna elegans_, Don. Ins. N. H. _Cosmodes elegans_, Gn., Noct. vi. 290; Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 35.) (Plate VI., fig. 2.) This beautiful species has occurred at Napier and Ohau in the North Island. In the South Island it has been taken at Christchurch and Governor's Bay. The expansion of the wings is 1-1/8 inches. The fore-wings are rich orange-brown, with _four large green spots margined with silver_; there is a curved silvery mark near the apex. The hind-wings are pale yellow, shaded with orange-brown towards the termen; the cilia are pale orange-brown mixed with white. The perfect insect appears in March and April.