NEW ZEALAND LARENTIID/. 359 
the keel, and from this point convexly contracted to the rather 
short, broadish, conical snout. Suture linear, but well marked by 
the contraction of the whorls. Mouth rather large, rhomboidally 
pear-shaped, with three angles above, and prolonged into a wide 
open canal. Outer lip thin, angulated, rectilinear above to the 
keel, flatly curved below ; on leaving the body it at once retreats 
to the left, forming in the shoulder a shallow, open, rounded 
sinus ; below the angle it advances very little, and at the snout 
its retreat is small. Inner lin—There is a thin, narrow glaze on 
the body and pillar; at the base of the pillar is a slight rounded 
angle; the pillar is short, conical and straight ; its point is very 
slightly truncate, with a narrow, rounded, but scarcely twisted 
edge. H. 024, B. 0117. Penultimate whorl, height o'04. 
Mouth, height, 0°12, breadth o'06. 
This shell may very likely be immature. The external lip in 
Pleuvotoma is generally so thin that it is difficult to determine 
from it when the shell is full grown. 
(To be continued). 
NEW ZEALAND LARENTIIDA:. 
a epg 
BY ALEXE:: PURDIE, B.A. 
—_—=— 
The main inducement to compile this paper was the know- 
ledge of the difficulty experienced by local entomologists in 
identifying their specimens of Lepidoptera. This difficulty arises 
from the fact that the descriptions are scattered through various 
publications not readily accessible by the ordinary student. 
What Captain Broun’s work has done for our Coleoptera we yet 
want someone to do for our Lepidoptera. To help to supply 
the above want in some degree is the object of this paper, and 
I trust that through your pages these descriptions may be brought 
before many that would otherwise not have seen them. The 
Larentiide include many of our commonest moths, and such as 
are likely to form part of every collection, while they are large 
enough also to render observations on their structure and mark- 
ings somewhat easy. They are grouped under Larentia, Coremia, 
and Cidaria ; but no weight is to be laid on the arrangement, as 
the question of the genera is at present in a very unsettled con- 
dition, and can be decided only by those having access to more 
complete reference libraries, and to larger collections than those 
within our reach in New Zealand as yet. As these descriptions 
may be used by some that are new to this work it may be well 
to give shortly the general character of the markings of the family. 
The most distinct and constant mark is a broad transverse dark 
band across the middle of the forewing. This central band is 
referred to in the descriptions as the central or median belt. It 
is often edged with a lighter colour, and its central area is usually 
paler than its edges. The basal area of the forewing is often 
dark, containing several transverse lines. There is usually a dark 
