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Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1940, Page 2

A large and beautiful moth, known as the orange-piercing moth because it sucks the juice of orange and other fruit, has been presented to the Canterbury Museum. Dr R. A. Falla, the director of the museum, said that it was a native of North Queensland, and it had not been known here since 1880, when a battered specimen was found in Christchurch. That specimen was believed to have been blown across the Tasman, Dr Falla said, but the new one is too fresh in appearance for that. He believes that it hatched from the pupa here, perhaps having travelled with fruit. The moth was sent to the city by Betty Archie, of West Melton, who described its arrival. The light had been turned on' in a room in the evening, and the moth had flown in and alighjed on a bowl of apples. Immediately it thrust its borer, which is about an inch long, into an apple. The moth has a wing spread of about four inches, and its body is about an inch and a half long. It is a light fawn colour with bright yellow underwings.