70 Transactions.— Zoology. 
Consists at present of two Australian and one New Zealand species, one 
of the Australian species (N. ophideres, Walk.) extending also into India and 
Madagascar. The genus presents a singular combination of characters, 
and probably approximates to the ancestral form of the Scopariada, Cram- 
bide, and Botydide. The New Zealand species is characterized by the 
dark fuscous hindwings, which in the two Australian species are partly 
orange. 
1. Nyct. atra, Butl. 
(Orosana atra, Butl., Pro. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1877.) 
Male, female.—11-12 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax blackish, irro- 
rated with white, basal joint of palpi white. Antenne blackish. Abdomen 
blackish, segmental margins white. Legs white, irrorated with black, 
tibie and tarsi banded with black. Forewings oblong, somewhat dilated 
posteriorly, costa straight, apex rounded, hind margin very obliquely 
rounded ; dark fuscous, sometimes partially irrorated with white ; first line 
black, angulated; orbicular small, black, detached; claviform absent; 
reniform 8-shaped, outlined with black, separated from second line by a 
white spot, sometimes obsolete above but always distinct on under surface, 
suffused into costa; second line black, indented beneath costa, strongly 
curved inwards beneath reniform, sometimes margined posteriorly on costa 
with white ; subterminal obsolete: cilia grey, with a waved black line, tips 
white. Hindwings dark fuscous ; neural pectinations white; cilia as in 
forewings. Under surface of forewings with one or two small white spots 
between reniform and base, besides posterior blotch, and a whitish suffusion 
towards inner margin: of hindwings with a white discal suffusion, inter- 
rupted by a dark fuscous central spot. 
The markings of the under surface in this instance doubtless. indicate 
the original type. 
Castle Hill and Lake Wakatipu (1,200 to 9,000 feet), in December and 
January, on dry grassy slopes; difficult to see; six specimens. 
2. Scoparm, Hw. 
Forehead vertical. Ocelli present. Tongue well developed. Antennm 
moderate, 3 of forewings, in male filiform, evenly ciliated (4-14). Labial 
palpi moderate or long, straight, porrected, second joint beneath with long 
dense projecting scales, terminal joint moderate, exposed or resting in scales 
of second. Maxillary palpi rather long, triangularly dilated. . Posterior 
tibie with outer spurs half inner. Abdomen moderate. Forewings with 
vein 11 rather oblique. Hindwings from somewhat broader to nearly twice 
as broad as forewings; 3 remote from 4, 4 and 5 stalked or from a point ; 
lower median naked ; discal area above it without hairs; internal area 
loosely haired. 
