Butler. — On the Butterflies of New Zealand. 263 



Fig. 5 represents a larva case of this insect affixed to a twig of Discaria 

 toumatou (fig. 6). 



I have never met Avith any of these insects on the wing ; all my speci- 

 mens have been bred from cases. 



Art. XXXV. — On tlie Butterflies of New Zealand. By Arthur G. Butler, 



F.L.S., &c. Communicated by John D. Enys, F.G.S. 



Plate XII. 



\Iiead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 12th January, 1878.] 



Of the fourteen species of Ehopalocerous Lepidoptera hitherto recorded as 



unquestionably occurring in New Zealand, exactly one half appear to be 



endemic forms; of the remaining seven, six are probably of Australian 



origin, or at any rate are common to Australia and New Zealand, wdiHst 



the remaining species is of American origin. 



In the present paper it is proposed, where necessary, to give the 

 synonymy of each of the species, -with a short description and with one or 

 more figures ; so that by reference to this little memoir the collector may 

 be enabled to recognize without difficulty any New Zealand species which 

 he may obtain. 



Lepidoptera. 

 Section Rhojjalocera. 



The teim. RJw2)alocera, as applied exclusively to the butterflies, is a mere 

 convenience, and does not (as has been falsely stated by some lepidopterists) 

 express any constant distinction between butterflies and moths; indeed, 

 these groups are only to be distinguished by family characters, such as the 

 structure and habits of the larv^, the form and economy of the pup©, and 

 the habits, form of venation, or other structural x^eculiarities of the imago ; 

 the same characters do not hold good as distmctive marks throughout the 

 moths, and thus it happens that some genera are in a wretcted state of 

 "hmbo," neither accepted as butterflies by the student of that group, nor 

 permitted to rest peacefully among the moths. 



Butterflies therefore are not all "club-horned," some have clubs, some 

 have filiform antennro, some have moniliform and subserrated antennfe. In 

 the Hesperiidce alone you have any amount of variation of structure — clubs, 

 hooks, whips, spoons ; all indicating a mere generic distinction and not 

 differingfrom the same organs in such families as the SpMiujida, CarteriidcB, 

 and Agaristido'.. The term PJiopalocera therefore is used to indicate the five 

 highest families of the Lepidoptera — the NymplialidcB, the Enjcinida, the 

 LyccenidcB, the Papilionidce, and the Hesperiidce. 



