278 NOCTUIDJ!. 



Genus HYSSIA. ^ 



Hyssia, Qaen. Noct. i. p. 345 (1852) cavernosa. 



Aii/sia, Guen. Ent. Mo. Mag. \. p. 3 (18(J8) nullifera. 



Ulolonche, Smith, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. x. p. 471 (1887) niveiguttata. 



Proboscis fully developed ; palpi upturned, the 2nd joint fringed with hair 

 in front, the 3rd short with small tuft of hair in front ; frons smooth ; eyes 

 large, rounded; antennae typically minutely ciliated ; head and thorax roughly 

 clothed with scales mixed with some hair, the pro- and metathorax with 

 spreading crests ; tibiie fringed with long hair ; abdomen with dorsal crest on 

 1st segment, some rough hair at base and lateral tufts of hair. Fore wing 

 with veins 3 and 5 from near angle of cell ; 6 from upper angle ; 9 from 

 10 anastomosing with 8 to form the areole ; 11 from cell. Hind wing with 

 reins 3, 4 from angle of cell; 5 obsolescent from just below middle of disco- 

 cellulars ; 6, 7 from upper angle ; 8 anastomosing with the cell near base only. 



Sect. I. (Alt/ssia). Antennae of male serrate and fasciculate. 



A. Fore wing with the ground-colour greenish grey. 



a. Fore wing with series of yellow points on the lines ... griseipennis. 



b. Fore wing without series of yellow points on the lines... inconstans. 



B. Fore wing with the ground-colour grey-brown. 



a. Fore wing without black streak from claviform to post- 

 medial line. 

 a}. Fore wing with the terminal area not paler than 

 ground-colour. 

 a^. Fore wing with the lines distinct. 



a^. Fore wing largely suffused with grey ; hind wing 

 with the cilia pale. 

 , a*. Fore wing with the ground-colour pale 



reddish brown cucidlina. 



b^. Fore wing with the ground-colour fuscous 



brown moderata. 



b^. Fore wing slightly irrorated with grey ; hind 



wing with the cilia brown with pale tips s^nlnthistis, 



b^. Fore wing with the lines almost obsolete nullifera. 



6\ Fore wing with the terminal area paler than the 



ground-colour senatoria. 



b. Fore wing with black streak from claviform to post- 

 medial line giissaia. 



1526. Hyssia griseipennis. 



Mamestra griseipennis, Feld. Eeis. Nov. pi. 109. f. 22 (1874) ; Hudson, 



N. Zealand Moths & Butterflies, p. 9, pi. iv. f. 8. 

 Chera virescens, Butl. Cist. Ent. ii. p. 489 (1879). 



$ . Head and thorax olive-brown slightly irrorated with white ; 

 tarsi with pale rings ; abdomen grey-brown. Foi'e wing grey-green 

 irrorated with white ; subbasal line double at costa, waved, ending 

 in an ochreous mark above vein 1 ; a slight ochreous streak above 

 inner margin near base ; antemedial line indistinct, double, waved, 

 angled inwards on median nervure and vein 1, with some ochreous 

 on it ; the stigmata defined by black and with some ochreous scales 

 on them ; the claviform small, the orbicular round, open above ; an 

 indistinct dentate medial line angled outwards at middle ; post- 

 medial line defined by ochreous on outer side, dentate and produced 



