120 NEW ZEALAND MACBO-LEPIDOPTEBA. 



intensity. In view of the great variability, which many species of this genus are known to exhibit in 

 other countries, I am inclined to think that this butterfly's claim to specific distinction is a very 

 slender one. 



The perfect insect may be taken in similar situations to Lyc&na phcebe. 



KEPUTED NEW ZEALAND BUTTERFLIES. 

 The following species are recorded by various observers as having occurred in 

 New Zealand. In nearly every case they are only represented by single specimens. 

 They cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as properly belonging to the fauna : — 



f. HAMADRYAS ZOILUS, :: Fabr. 



The expansion of the wings is 1 inch. On the upper side all the wings are black, 

 becoming brown towards the base ; the fore-wings have three dull white spots near the 

 apex ; the hind-wings have the whole of the central portions white. 



Stated by Dieffenbach to occur in New Zealand, probably in error, as it has not 

 since been observed. An Australian species. Mr. W. W. Smith, however, informs 

 me, that his eldest son recently saw near Ashburton a specimen of what he believed 

 to be this butterfly ; but as he was unable to capture it he cannot speak with any 

 degree of certainty. 



2. EUPLCLE sp? 



The expansion of the wings is 2| inches. On the upper side all the wings are dull, 

 brownish-blauk, with a series of large white terminal spots. 



Two or three specimens of this insect are stated by Mr. T. W. Kirk to have 

 been taken near Flat Point on the east coast of the North Island, but no further 

 details are forthcoming. The late Mr. Olliff, to whom I forwarded a sketch of the 

 insect, informed me that it was not represented in the Sydney collections of 

 Australian and South Sea Island butterflies, but he thought it might be a Malayan 

 species of Euploce. 



3. VANESSA ATALANTA.+ L. 



The expansion of the wings is from '1\ to 2f inches. " The fore-wings are black, with a 

 broad deep red central band, and with one large and five small white spots near the 

 apex. The hind-wings are black, with a broad deep red band at the termen, in which are 

 four black spots; at the tornus is a large blue-and-black spot." t 



Mr. T. W. Kirk states § that he captured a specimen of this familiar English 

 butterfly in the Wellington Botanical Gardens, in the summer of 1881. On a 

 subsequent occasion he saw several others. No specimens have since been detected. 



4. VANESSA URTIOE, L. 



The expansion of the wings is from '2 to 2| inches. "The fore-wings are reddish-orange 

 with three large black spots on the costa (the third followed by a white spot), two smaller 

 black spots near the centre, and one large one on the dorsum ; a dark border, containing cresentic 

 blue spots, runs along the termen. The hind-wings are black at the base, then reddish-orange, 

 with a blue-spotted dark border along the termen." [I 



Mr. Kirk states H that he also obtained specimens of this very common English 

 butterfly during the same season and in the same locality as Vanessa atalnnta. None 

 have been seen by other observers. 



♦ ' Catalogue of New Zealand Butterflies,' 18, 28, PI. II., fig. 1. 1 Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 550. 



; Stainton's 'British Butterflies and Moths,' 103, PI. II., fig. 1. § Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 550. 



II Stainton's 'British Butterflies and Moths,' 106. " Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 550. 



