4 NEW ZEALAND MACBO-LEPIDOPTERA. 



English entomologists as a great rarity, and many discussions have taken place at various 

 times as to the propriety of retaining it on the list of British Lepidoptera. 



Genus 3.— METACEIAS, Meyr. 

 "Tongue obsolete. Antennas in 3 moderately bipectinated throughout. Palpi rather short, hairy, 

 concealed in rough hairs of head. Thorax and femora densely hairy beneath. Anterior tibiae with 

 developed spine beneath, and apical hook. Fore-wings with vein 2 from §, 6 from point with or 

 out of 9, 7 and 8 out of 9, 10 sometimes connected with 9 at a point above 7. Hind-wings with 

 veins 3 and 4 almost from point, 6 and 7 from point or short-stalked, 8 from about I. Wings m 2 

 rudimentary. (Plate II., fig. 1 neuration of fore-wing, fig. 2 ditto of hind- wing.) 



" An interesting and peculiar genus, apparently most allied to some Australian 

 forms of Spilosoma, but quite distinct. Three species have been discovered, two of them 

 quite recently, and it is not unreasonable to hope that additional forms may hereafter be 

 found amongst the mountains, to which they seem especially attached." — (Meyrick). 



METACEIAS STRATEGICS, Hdsn. 

 (Arctia strategica, Hdsn., Entom., 1889, 53. Metacrias strategtca, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xxii. 216.) 



(Plate IV., fig. 4.) 

 This handsome species is at present only known by a single specimen, captured by 

 Mr. W. W. Smith, near the summit of the Eichardson Kange, in South Canterbury, at an 

 elevation of about 3,000 feet. 



The expansion of the wings of the male is H inches. The fore-wings are black, with two broad, 

 dull yellow, longitudinal streaks ; between the costa and the first streak is a very fine yellowish line, and 

 between the two streaks there are three similar lines. The hind-wings arc bright yellow, with a broad 

 black band, parallel to the terincu, interrupted just be/ore the tornus; the vicinity of this black band 

 is tinged with crimson. The body is black ; the top of the head, collar, and sides of the thorax and 

 abdomen are dull yellow. The female is probably apterous. 



This species may be readily distinguished from the two following by the yellow collar, 

 absence of any large spot in the centre of both fore-wings and hind-wings, and the red 

 colouring of the termen of the hind- wings. The moth was taken in February, frequenting 

 a species of Carmichcelia. It may be looked for in the mountainous regions of South 

 Canterbury, but at present nothing further is known of its habits. 



METACEIAS EEICHEYSA, Meyr. 

 {Metacrias erichrysa, Meyr., Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W., 1886, 719; ditto, Trans. N. Z. Inst. xxii. 216.) 



(Plate IV., fig. 5.) 

 This species was discovered by Mr. Meyrick on Mount Arthur in the Nelson District 

 in 1886. Since that time I have taken eleven specimens in the same locality, and have 

 seen several others, but as yet I have not heard of its occurrence elsewhere. 



The expansion of the wings is lh inches. The fore-wings arc black, with orange-yellow markings. 

 These consist of a fine line near the costa, becoming very broad near the base, several elongate 

 markings between the veins near the middle, a series of spots near the termen, and a broad streak- 

 parallel to the dorsum. The hind-wings are orange-yellow, with a curved black spot in the middle, 

 and a broad black band on the termen, ending considerably before the tornus, and nearly broken a 

 little before its termination. The female, according to Mr. Meyrick,* is "wholly whitish-ochreous ; 

 wings minute, aborted ; legs short, stout, well developed." 



The Life-history is thus described by Mr. Meyrick | : "The larva is wholly black, 

 clothed with long black hairs, those covering segmental incisions brownish-ochreous. It 

 feeds on Senecio bellidioides. The pupa is enclosed in a slight cocoon." 



: Trans. N. Z. Inst. xxii. 216. I [bid. 



