90 



Notes on Australian Lepidoptera, 



By A. Jefferis Turner, M.D. 



[Read September 6, 1898.] 



Plate V. 



SYNTOMIDID.E. 



The great majority of the Australian species of this family are 

 referable to the genus Hydrusa. My attention was first called 

 to this group by the difficulty experienced in identifying one of 

 our commonest Brisbane insects, described below under the 

 heading of Hydrusa aperta^ Walk. Fortunately, nearly all the 

 types of the species described by Mr. Meyrick (Proc. Linn. 

 Soc, N.S.W., 1886, p. 773) are contained in local collec- 

 tions. During a recent short stay in Sydney, I took the oppor- 

 tunity of carefully examining those in the Macleay and Australian 

 Museums, and comparing them with my own examples; and I must 

 express my gratitude to the Curators of these museums for their 

 kind assistance. I am also much indebted to Dr. T. P. Lucas 

 for an opportunity of examining types in his valuable collection, 

 and to the Queensland Museum for the loan of specimens. 



The difficulty of determining the species of this genus lies in 

 the great uniformity of marking, combined with the considerable 

 range of variability in certain species. For this reason they 

 oannot be satisfactorily studied from isolated museum specimens, 

 but need large series of specimens from various localities for 

 comparison. Series bred from the larvse would be specially 

 valuable. Mr. Meyrick has, I believe, in spite of the thorough- 

 ness and accuracy of his work, been misled in at least one 

 instance into making several species out of one by the paucity of 

 his material. 



I do not regard the present contribution as in any way final, 

 for much remains to be learnt of the species inhabiting Northern 

 Queensland, where the genus is most abundantly represented. Of 

 many species, I have seen only a few isolated types ; and of those 

 enumerated below, some may, I think, be regarded as perfectly 

 well-established and distinct species : — Hydrusa humeralis, 

 Butl. ; H. xantliosoma, Turn. ; JH. ecliptis, Meyr. ; H. stelotis, 

 Meyr. ; H. jyyrrhodera, Meyr. ; H. leucacma, Meyr. ; H. aperta, 

 Walk. ; H. orphncea, Turn. ; S". recedens, Luc. ; H. annulata^ 

 F. ; H. 2)hepsalotis, Meyr. ; H. bicolor, Walk. 



The following I regard as species concerning which further 

 information is required, although the majority at least are likely 



