66 Transactions. 



pyle, as tending to preserve correctly the homologies of the egg-structures. 

 Similarly, when describing the shape of certain eggs, the terms " longi- 

 tudinal " and "transverse" sections have been used as meaning sections 

 of the egg taken parallel or transversely to the micropylar axis. 



As regards the size and sculpturing of the eggs of Lepidoptera, there is 

 no need to go exhaustively into the subject here. To avoid confusion, it 

 must be said that sometimes the eggs of the same species of moth or butter- 

 fly, and even individual eggs of a batch laid by the same parent, will differ 

 slightly in size and sculpture : for instance, should an egg be ribbed with 

 raised reticulations it may be found that in some eggs there are, say, fifteen 

 such ribs, while in other eggs of the same moth, or of the same batch, there 

 are seventeen, or perhaps only fourteen, of these reticulations. Where this 

 occurs in the species described the limiting cases have been given. If, 

 however, the variation is only very slight, the word "about" has been 

 inserted before the statement. In many eggs the sculpturing is in the form 

 of reticulations crossing and recrossing each other, and dividing the shell 

 up into more or less deep figures : these depressions are termed " cells." 

 The shell of the egg of a lepidopterous insect consists of a thin pellicle, more 

 or less transparent, and sometimes opaque, and besides the main sculpturing 

 sometimes gives rise to a secondary sculpturing, or it may be quite smooth, 

 or more or less roughened. It must be remembered that all descriptions 

 of the different portions of eggs mentioned herein are as seen through 

 varying powers of the microscope, and that which may seem smooth when 

 viewed under an inch power may turn out to be quite the opposite when 

 seen through a half-inch or quarter-inch objective. A high power has in 

 every case been used when describing such portions of the egg-structure. 



The reason why such elaborate descriptions are needed is that in many 

 cases the sole difference in the eggs of totally different species may lie 

 entirely in the exact measurement of the eggs themselves, or even of only 

 a portion of the eggs ; or, again, in the slight variation in the sculpturing 

 that is not at once apparent, but has to be sought out by means of series 

 of microscopically minute and delicate measurements. Instances of such 

 constantly occur among the Porina, Melanchra, and other groups. 



Care has been taken to give all the more important synonyms of the 

 species in every case, but it must not be concluded that the lists given are 

 exhaustive ; they are not. In almost every case reference has been made 

 to Mr. R. W. Fereday's " Synonymic List of the Lepidoptera of New 

 Zealand,"* where the complete lists of synonyms are given. Where the 

 adult form of the ovum under consideration has been figured, reference to 

 such has been given. 



Porina cervinata Walk. 



Elhamma cervinata Walk., Cat. Lep. Brit. Mus., Suppl. ii, p. 595. 

 Porina vexata, ib., p. 597. P. cervinata Butl., Cat. Lep. N.Z., 

 p. 5 ; Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst., 22, p. 208 ; Fereday, List N.Z. 

 Lep., Trans. N.Z. Inst., 30, p. 329 ; Hudson, N.Z. Moths and 

 Butterflies, p. 133, pi. 13, fig. 12. 



I have only taken two females of this species. They are much attracted 

 by light, and the ones I took were resting at the time on a street-lamp. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 30, p. 326. 



