PuRDiE. — Description of a New Species of Moth. 69 



and a broader band along each side, with black spots and blotches 

 interspersed ; the uuder-parts are orange, spotted with black in 

 the male, and olive-grey in the female. The length is about 

 6 inches, 



^ It is one of the reptiles that produce living young, the eggs 

 being hatched just before the young lizards are born. The 

 usual plan adopted by reptiles is to lay the eggs in some spot 

 where the sun's rays are able to warm them. But the Scaly 

 Lizard is in the habit of lying on a sunny bank before the 

 young ones are born, apparently for the purpose of gaining 

 sufficient heat to hatch the eggs, a process which is much 

 aided by the extreme thinness of the membrane covering 

 them. 



Abt. IX. — Description of a Neiv Species of Moth (Pasiphila 

 lichenodes). By Alex. Puedie, M.A. 



IRead be/ore the Wellington Philosophical Society, 8th September, 1886.] 



The genus Pasiphila is a very distinct genus of the New Zea- 

 land (zf-omeirwirt, containing some of the smallest moths in that 

 division. In his monograph of the New Zealand Geometrina,^ 

 Mr. Meyrick maintains that there is but one species of this 

 genus in New Zealand, and to this opinion I have already made 

 objection in a paper in the "New Zealand Journal of Science " 

 for July, 1884, in which it was urged that at least two species 

 had been included under the name Pasiphila bilineolata. Since 

 then I have bred out a third form from the caterpillar state; so 

 that, besides the species to be described to-night, there are at 

 least three other species of Pasiphila in New Zealand. I have 

 also, besides these, several doubtful forms ; but Mr. Meyiick has 

 admitted to me that he had wrongly included four, if not five, 

 distinct species under the one name. As, however, he intends 

 shortly to write upon this subject, it will be well to leave to him 

 the disentanglement of the synonomy, as it is a matter upon 

 which, perhaps, he alone is qualified to speak with authority. 

 Here I take the opportunity of acknowledging Mr, Meyrick's 

 kindness and readiness in furnishing information regarding 

 insects sent to him. 



Those that are acquainted with English moths may easily 

 recognize the New Zealand species of Pasiphila by their likeness 

 in size and appearance to the various species of Evpithecia, to 

 which the New Zealand genus is closely allied. The members 

 of this genus are small moths, usually less than an inch across 



• " Trans. N.Z. InBt.," vol. xvi., p. 49; xvii,, p. 62 ; xviii., p. 184. 



