BY THOMAS P. LUCAS. 281 



Five species of Nyctemera run very closely. It will be interesting 

 to obtain the history of caterpillars and food plants of all, to 

 ascertain if they are non-interbreeding species, or if they are but 

 climatic varieties. I may sum up the five as follows : — 



N. annnlata — very black, two small bars of dots in forewings, 

 and one small dot in hindwings, white. New Zealand. 



ffi. arnica — broad bar of white divided by black veins in fore- 

 wings, small round white spot in hindwings. Melbourne to Bris- 

 bane. 



i\ r . secundiana — broader bar of yellowish-white in forewing, 

 much larger blotch in hind wing. Brisbane to Cooktown. 



N. tertiana — forewing as secundiana, hindwing § white with 

 narrow black border. Mackay to Cooktown. 



.V. crescens — narrower white band in forewing; veins not black, 

 in male a club-shaped white mark in middle third of wing, from 

 base outward ; hindwings as in tertiana. Mackay to Cooktown. 



Family SYNTOMIDID.E. 



Hydrusa recedens, sp. nov. 



^2- 1^-16 mm. Head orange, with a black mark between 

 antennae. Antennae black. Thorax black, orange anteriorly, and 

 with orange epaulettes. Abdomen iridescent, orange, with base 

 of segments narrowly velvet black, apical segment orange, with 

 broader black band at base, and fringe tipped with light smoky- 

 grey Forewings black ; spots thinly scaled, light orange, and 

 leaving the black ground colour only as bands or borders in three 

 series ; first, a clavate spot nearly touching inner margin at \ to 

 half-way across wing, and projecting toward base ; second series in 

 the transverse middle third, nearly touching inner margin, but 

 with a broad costal margin, divided by two lines into three, a sub- 

 quadrate costal spot, a small central triangular spot, a broader 

 triangular spot near inner margin ; third series in posterior third 

 of wing, divided into three bar lines parallel to costa, costal one 

 longer than the other two. Hindwings black; spots light orange; 



