GIANT MOTHS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21207, 2 September 1940, Page 9

GIANT MOTHS

COLLECTION OF 4000 BRED FROM IMPORTED EGGS (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Saturday Four thousand giant moths, with a wingspread of up to 9in. or 10in., form the bulk of a remarkable collection of inspects recently acquired by the Dominion Museum. These gaudy and exotic moths, many with long swallow-tails, with vivid “eyes” on their wings, and with shaggy fur growing on their massive bodies and legs, represent a species from almost every quarter of the earth. Some possess the rich patterns of a Persian carpet, others are lunar mothfc, pale greenish white with a crescent moon marked on their wings. Some have delicate antennae resembling fern fronds. Although in the ordinary way none of these insects is native to New Zealand, every single one acquired by the museum was born and bred in Wellington. They were imported as eggs or pupae from entomologists in many countries, by Mr A. Weniger, Wellington. They are perfect specimens because they

never had the opportunity to batter their wings by flight. The collection consists of 33 cases, each containing 80 to .50 moths. One of the most beautiful, although not quite the largest, is the Australian Emperor moth, measuring fully 6in. across. This insect, which lives on the eucalyptus, is now established in several parts of the North Island.