TRANSACTIONS 
NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 
1883. 
I.—ZOOLOGY. 
Arr. 1.—Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera.* 
By E. Meyrick, B.A. 
[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd May, 1883.) 
Il.—@COPHORIDA. 
Tae (Ecophorida are the principal family of the Tineina in New Zealand, 
as in Australia, and attain considerable development ; 55 species are here 
described, but the actual number is probably much more considerable. In 
addition to those characterized, I have included in an appendix references 
to descriptions of some other species, which I have not yet satisfactorily iden- 
tified. The family here constitutes about a sixth of the entire Micro-Lept- 
doptera; in Australia it forms more than a fourth, whilst | in Europe it is 
about a thirtieth. 
I have elsewhere discussed the internal development of the family, and 
its relation to other families of the group, and need not again enter into 
these questions. Two points, however, present themselves, on which some- 
thing needs to be said ; firstly, the relation of this portion of the fauna to 
Australian forms, and secondly, the inferences to be drawn from the 
character of the fauna itself. 
Since the family occupies such a prominent position in both Australia 
and New Zealand, compared with such other regions as are yet known, it 
seems at first sight reasonable to infer a more or less close interconnection 
between the species of these two countries. Such an impression is not con- 
firmed on investigation. No species is yet known common to both. Four- 
teen genera are found in New Zealand ; of these, ten are endemic, three occur 
also in Australia, and one is cosmopolitan. Of the three genera shared 
with Australia, two /Eulechria and Phleopola) are large and typically 
Australian genera, represented in New Zealand by three species, obviously 
mere stragglers ; the third, Trachypepla, is a typical New Zealand genus of 
* For Parts I. and IL, see Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xv., art. i. 
