Meykick. — On New Zealand Geometrina. 51 



uncertain identification of species ; they are for this reason placed in an 

 appendix. The only localities given are those for which I have direct 

 authority from labelled specimens ; those quoted by Walker and Butler are 

 very often quite erroneous, and I have neglected them altogether. It is 

 very desirable that collectors should at once begin to work out the larval 

 habits of these insects, and make accurate descriptions of the larval, which 

 will probably be found as variable in colour as the imagos. All information 

 as to localities, seasons, and habits will be of value, and also, in the case of 

 mountain species, as to the elevation at which they are found. 



Of the New Zealand Geometrina Doubleday described six species in the 

 appendix to Dieffenbach's " New Zealand." The descriptions are very 

 brief, but I have identified all with tolerable certainty. Walker in his 

 " British Museum Catalogues" published no less than 92 names, of which 

 26 represented new species, 47 were synonyms, and 19 are unidentified. 

 Guenee in his " Phalenites," and in a paper published in the "Entomo- 

 logists' Monthly Magazine," described 25, of which only 5 were new, the 

 rest being all synonyms of species previously known. Felder in the " Beise 

 der Novara" has figured 42 as new; of these 11 are in fact new, 27 are 

 synonyms, and the other 4 I have not yet been able to identify satisfac- 

 torily. Butler has published various descriptions — sometimes accompanied 

 with figures, which are mostly very poor — in the " Catalogue of New 

 Zealand Lepidoptera," appended to the "Voyage of the 'Erebus' and 

 ' Terror,' " a paper in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 London" for 1877, and two papers in the " Cistula Entomologica," 32 

 in all ; of these 10 are new, 19 are synonyms, and the other three appear 

 unidentifiable. Mr. Fereday has described two species, of which one is 

 new. In the present paper I have added 30 others, including all known to 

 me, and bringing up the total number to 89. Two or three of those which 

 I have described may perhaps be found amongst Walker's unidentified 

 species, but this was unavoidable. In an appendix I have added references 

 to all descriptions which I have not been able to identify, but it must not 

 be supposed that these indicate additional species ; probably almost all will 

 prove to be synonyms of others previously described ; they are numbered 

 separately for convenience of reference. 



The classification of the Geometrina is founded almost wholly on char- 

 acters drawn from the neuration, which is more complex than usual ; the 

 antennaB and palpi are liable to no considerable amount of diversity, and 

 are not generally of more than secondary importance. The legs and other 

 organs afford no tangible points, at least among the New Zealand species. 

 The shape of the wings, often employed by superficial observers, is not of 

 the least value, being purely specific. In cases where a specimen cannot 



