﻿Feeeday. — On the Lepidoptera of New Zealand. 217 



butterflies at least eight, and of moths quite 300 diiFerent species, and it is 

 seldom that I i^eturn from a day's or evening's excursion, even in oft- visited 

 localities, without adding many new species to my collection ; and any new 

 locality invariably affords me a rich harvest. 



Of some 200 or more specimens that I have sent to England, seven- 

 eighths, at least, were undescribed and new to science. 



The butterfly mentioned as so much resembling the English Red Admiral 

 {Vanessa atalanta) is the Pyrameis gonerilla of Fabricius. It difiers from 

 Y. atalanta in having a marginal row of ocellated spots, instead of crescent- 

 shaped markings, on the hind wings, and a very beaiitifully coloured ocellated 

 spot beyond the middle of the fore-wing, on the under side. I am not quite 

 prepared to admit that there are two broods of this insect during the year, 

 for those which appear in spring are almost invariably worn and dilapidated, 

 and have, doubtless, hybernated. 



The butterfly with the silvery markings on the under side, must be 

 Argyrophenga antipodum of Doubleday. It is rather common in some of our 

 river beds, particularly the Waimakariri ; the genus is distinct from Satyrus. 

 That seen by Mr. Bathgate in the interior of the province of Otago, and 

 supposed by him to be of the Fritillary genus, was probably a " Painted 

 Lady " ( Vanessa cardui), which is found in these islands as well as in almost 

 every part of the globe. 



There is a handsome butterfly ( Vanessa itea) not mentioned by Mr. Bathgate, 

 of which I have specimens taken by Mr. F. H. Meinertzhagen in Hawkes 

 Bay. It would appear to be intermediate between P. gonerilla and V. cardui. 



I may also mention a black butter-fly, found on the bare summits of the 

 snowy mountains, and of which 1 have several specimens, taken on the range 

 near Castle Hill Station, west of Porter's Pass, at an altitude of over 6,000 

 feet. Mr. J. D. Enys was, I believe, the first* person to discover this species, 

 and pointed out to me its locality. It has since been found by Mr. W. T. L. 

 Travers on the mountains at Lake Guyon, in the ISTelson province. I believe 

 it to be a species of Erebia, and have named it E. pluto. 



There are three, if not four, distinct species of the Ghrysophanus genus, 

 namely, G. edna, of Doubleday, C. Feredayi (a new species taken by myself at 

 Kaiapoi Bush, and so named by Mr. H. W, Bates, in compliment to myself) 

 a new species not yet named (taken by me at Wellington), and another which 

 I believe to be new, but am not certain about. 



Of the Lycoena genus we have at least two species — L. Oxleyi, of Felder, 

 and L. holdenarutn, of White. 



* I have since been informed by Dr. Julius Haast that he took this butterfly on the 

 14th March, 1886, on AVhitcombe's Pass at an altitude of 4,212 feet above the sea level. 

 — R.W.F. 



