70 NEW ZEALAND NEUBOPTEBA. 



This species is very closely allied to the last, from 

 which it can only be distinguished by a special examina- 

 tion of the male insect. At present it is only recorded 

 from Wellington, Christchurch and Ophir, but is pro- 

 bably generally distributed throughout New Zealand. 



The expansion of the wings is about \^ inch. 



"Like P. evecta, but the male has no abdominal lobes. Length of the 

 body, 4-5 mm. ; expanse of the wings, 12-19 mm." (Hutton). 



In its transformations this species no doubt closely 

 resembles P. evecta. 



The perfect insect appears from November till March. 

 It frequents the same situations as P. evecta. 



Genus HELICOPSYCHE, Hagen (1866). 



" Spurs 2.2.4, long, but the exterior spur on the anterior tibia is 

 minute, and that on the other pairs is slightly shorter than the internal ; 

 the sub-apical pair on the posterior tibiae near the apical. 



" This genus was founded originally to include the 

 remarkable heliciform larvae- cases made of grains of sand, 

 which have only lately been hatched out in North America 

 and Europe" (Hutton). 



HELICOPSYCHE ZEALANDICA, n. sp. 



(Plate XL, fig. 4 imago, 5 larva removed from case, & 

 larva in case, all magnified.) 



This very inconspicuous little insect must be quite 

 common in the neighbourhood of Wellington, and is, 

 in fact, probably generally abundant throughout New 

 Zealand. It is, however, seldom seen, and but for the 

 extremely interesting nature of the case constructed by 

 its larva, the mature caddis-fly would probably have long 

 remained unnoticed hy entomologists. 



The expansion of the wings is about ^inch. The general colour is dusky 

 black, with a paler spot a little beyond the middle of the fore-wings. All 

 the wings are fringed with long hairs. This insect has a strong superficial 

 resemblance to Pycnocentria funerea, but apart from structural differences 

 may readily be distinguished from that species by its smaller size and more 

 transparent wings. 



The larva of Helicopsychc is very abundant in most 

 running streams in the Wellington District. It constructs 

 a spiral case so closely resembling a small snail-shell, that 

 similar cases found in Europe have deceived concholo- 



