The sexes differ considerably in appearance, the male having much broader wings, and darker in colour than those in the female from which the illustration (Fig. 2) is taken.
This insect is probably single-brooded, as the larva may be found feeding in the trees during the whole of the winter.
Family Tortricidæ.
Cacoecia excessana (Plate [XIII]., fig. 5, 5a larva).
This is the commonest species of Tortricidæ in New Zealand, and may be found almost without interruption during the whole of the year.
The larva (Fig. 5a) feeds on a great variety of plants, the common manuka being probably the most usual food for the species when in a state of nature. It now, however, eats numerous European plants, including honeysuckle and occasionally the fruit of the apple, but further evidence is required on the latter subject before we can really consider it as actually injurious in that direction.
In colour this caterpillar is light green with a yellow line on each side, but varies considerably; it feeds between several rolled-up leaves, in which it is afterwards converted into a pupa whence the moth emerges in about three weeks' time.
The perfect insect is also excessively variable and is often more or less suffused with yellow. It is most abundant in the middle of summer, and may be taken at light, or in the daytime at rest on fences and trees.
Family Tortricidæ.
Ctenopseustis obliquana (Plate [XII]., fig. 6).