* 



4 90 

 " 



NEW ZEALAND MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA. 



" tiger moths " will probably at once recall several conspicuous and beautiful members of 

 this family. 



Three genera of the Arctiadce are represented in New Zealand, viz. : 

 1. NYCTEMEBA. 2. UTETHEISA. 3. METACRIAS. 



Genus 1. NYCTEMEEA, Hb. 



' ' Tongue well developed. Antennae in $ bipectinated throughout. Palpi moderately long, 

 porrected or rather ascending, with appressed scales ; terminal joint moderate, cylindrical. Fore- 

 wings with vein 6 out of 9 or separate, 7 and 8 out of 9, 10 connected with 9 by a bar. Hind-wings 

 with veins 6 and 7 stalked or separate, 8 anastomosing shortly with margin of cell near base." 

 (Plate II., fig. 3 head, 4 neuration of fore- wing, 5 ditto of hind- wing.) 



" The single New Zealand species is endemic, but nearly allied to an Australian form."- 

 (Meyrick.) 



NYCTEMEBA ANNULATA, Boisd. 



(Leptosoma annulata, Boisd., Voy. Ask. v. 197, pi. v. 9 ; Dbld., Dieff. N. Z. ii. 284. Nyctemera* 

 doublcdayi, Walk., Bomb. 392. Nyctemera annulata, Meyr., Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., 1886, 760; ditto, 

 Trans. N. Z. Inst. xxii. 218.) 



(Plate IV., fig. 1 $ , 2 ? ; Plate III., fig. 9, larva.) 



This species is perhaps one of the best known of the New Zealand Lepidoptera, 

 occurring in great profusion in all parts of both North and South Islands. It is also 

 common at Stewart Island, in the neighbourhood of cultivation. 



The expansion of the wings is about If inches. All the wings are deep sooty black. The fore- 

 wings have an irregular cream-coloured band running from beyond the middle of the costa towards the 

 tornus. This band is interrupted in the middle, and crossed by several black veins, which sometimes 

 almost break it up into a chain of spots. The hind-wings have a single large cream-coloured spot 

 near the middle. The body is black, with several orange markings on the thorax, and a series of 

 broad orange rings on the abdomen. 



This species varies a good deal in the extent of the cream-coloured markings. 

 The larva feeds on the New Zealand groundsel (Senecio belli dioides), but in cultivated 

 districts it is more often observed on Senecio scandens, a plant having a superficial resem- 

 blance to ivy, which frequently grows in great profusion on fences and hedgerows in 

 various parts of the country. 



Mr. W. W. Smith informs us * that it also feeds on the common groundsel 

 (8. vnlgaris) as well as on Cineraria maritima. I have often seen these caterpillars 

 on mild days in the middle of winter, and full-grown specimens are very common towards 

 the end of August, so that I think there is little doubt that the species passes the winter 

 in the larval condition. At other seasons there is a continuous succession of broods. 



The length of the caterpillar when full grown 1 is 1 inches. It is covered with numerous tufts of 

 long black hair, and is black in colour, with the dorsal and lateral lines dark-red. There are several 

 large blue spots round the middle of each of the segments, and the membrane between each segment 

 is bluish-grey. In younger larvae the bluish-grey colouring extends over a considerable portion of 

 the insect. 



This caterpillar may be readily found, as it feeds on the upper surface of the leaves 

 fully exposed to view. Its hairy armour evidently renders it unpalatable to birds, and 

 hence the secret habits we observe in most larvae are absent in this species. 



When full-fed it selects a secluded spot, generally a crevice in the trunk of a tree, 

 where it spins an oval cocoon of silk intermixed with its own hairs. Here it changes 



* Entom. xxvi. 220. 



