The egg is smooth, oval, and pale green in colour.
The young larva is orange-brown, becoming greenish-brown soon after emergence. The full-grown larva is dark brown above and pale brown beneath, the two colours being sharply separated on the sides by a broken white line. A series of V-shaped markings is situated on the back, each mark enclosing a paler area. Several fine black wavy lines traverse the darker portions of the larva, and a dark mark, edged with black beneath, is situated on each segment just above the ventral surface.
The food-plant is watercress.
The pupa is enclosed in a frail cocoon on the surface of the ground.
The perfect insect appears from October till March, and frequents forest. It is often dislodged from dense undergrowth during the daytime, and may be found in the evening on the blossoms of the white rata. It is very much commoner in some years than in others; but occasionally several seasons will pass without our noticing a single specimen of this attractive insect. The colouring is extremely protective when the moth is resting on moss-covered tree trunks.
XANTHORHOE ADONIS, n. sp.
(Plate [VII]., fig. 49 ♂.)
This extremely beautiful insect has occurred in the South Island at Castle Hill, and at Lake Wakatipu.
The expansion of the wings is 1 inch. The fore-wings are vivid green; there is a broad, wavy, black transverse line near the base; a somewhat broken line at about one-third, much broader on the costa and edged with white towards the base; a very conspicuous broad black line at two-thirds, shaded towards the base, and sharply edged with white towards the termen; between this line and the termen there are several black marks, forming another extremely broken transverse line. The hind-wings are pale orange-brown, with a faint grey central band.
The perfect insect appears in January. It frequents forests at elevations of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea-level, but it is not common.