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 Scopariadm, Cram- 

 bida, and Botijdidcc. 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. Antennas blackish. Abdomen 

 blackish, segmental margins white. Legs white, irrorated with black, 

 tibiaa 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 3,000 feet), in December and 

 January, on dry grassy slopes ; difficult to see ; six specimens. 



2. Scoparia, Hw. 



Forehead vertical. Ocelli present. Tongue well developed. Antennas 

 moderate, f of forewings, in male filiform, evenly ciliated (^-l£). 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 

 tibiae 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 

 looselv haired. 



