Zoology.-] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. ^Insects. 



Plate 8, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. 



AGAEISTA LEWINI (Walk.). 



Lewin's Day-moth. 



[Genus AG ARISTA (Leach). (Sub-kingd. Articulata. Class Insecta. Order Lepidoptera. 

 Section Heterocera. Fam. Uraniidae.) 



[Gen. Char. — Body moderately long and thick. Palpi long, first and second joints depressed, 

 hairy, third joint long, slender, cylindrical, conical at apex, nearly smooth. Antennae rather 

 shorter than the body, slightly swollen towards the distal end, apex slender pointed, arched 

 outwards.] 



Description. — Brownish-black with a slight purple reflection. Upper side: 

 anterior wings darkest, three small spots at the base, and four or rarely five larger 

 transversely oblong ones between base and the large curved transverse band, a little 

 beyond the middle, and which reaches two-thirds of the way from the front edge to 

 the abdominal one, of a rich straw-yellow (paler in the male) ; a row of eight small 

 ovate spots parallel to the margin, a row of seven still smaller about as far within 

 the outer row as it is within the margin, and a short marginal band at the apex of 

 a yellowish-white ; posterior wings rich blackish-brown with a slightly marked small 

 yellowish spot nearly in the middle in the male (often absent), large and distinct in 

 the female ; a short marginal pale-yellow band at apex and row of indistinct yellowish- 

 white spots on edge of male, larger in female. Under side: anterior wings rich 

 brownish-black with only the marginal apical small band, the central transverse band, 

 and one spot between it and the base, distinctly marked, of the pale-yellow color ; 

 one or two dots at base and a few of the intra- marginal row of dots very slightly 

 indicated, of a yellowish-white. Posterior wings blackish-brown, with the short 

 marginal band at the apex as on upper side, but a very distinct transverse arched 

 3 7 ellow band near the middle, extending about half the breadth of the wing from 

 near anterior towards abdominal margin, five or six small dots on the margin, and a 

 concentric row of six or seven smaller ones between it and the medial band, yellowish- 

 white ; all these marks larger on the female. Body blackish-brown, with a few 

 small spots on head and thorax and a conspicuous one on each side of posterior edge 

 of each abdominal segment, pale whitish-yellow ; apex of abdomen, edge of penul- 

 timate segment, thighs, and under edges of abdomen, tawny-buff. Legs and antennae 

 black, the former ringed with whitish-yellow. Length of body, 9 lines in male, 10 

 lines in female; width from tip to tip of wings, 1 inch 7 lines in male, 1 inch 11 

 lines in female. 



Reference. — Boisduval. Voy. de 1' Astrolabe, p. 176. 



This species is figured to complete the plate illustrating the 

 curious genus Agarista so characteristic of the Southern hemisphere, 



[ 27 ] 



