THE 



NEW SPECIES, &c., OF HETEROCEROUS LEPIDOPTERA FROM CANTER. 

 BURY, NEW ZEALAND, COLLECTED BY MR. R. W. FEREDAY. 



by achille guenee. 

 Family HEPIALID^ * 

 G-enus Pielus. 

 PiELUs UMBEACULATTJS, Guenee, n. 8. 



Ala testacea : anticce litura longitudinali albida, irregularis nigro 

 infra adumhrata : posticce omnesque subtus testacecBt hasi pilis Icetiorihus. 

 Femina major et dilutior. 50 millimetres. 



The examples that I have seeu of this species present two well-marked types. 

 In the first the anterior wings of the male are dense, testaceous, sprinkled with an 

 infinitude of paler scales, and the only marking is an unequal whitish band placed 

 in the cellule, commencing as a point and finishing as a dash, the whole broadly 

 shaded with black beneath. The posterior wings are nearly of the same tint, but 

 less dense, with a brush of hairs, more yellow in colour, at the base. The body 

 and the legs are concolorous. The female is larger, and extends to 60 mill. All 

 thfi wings are much paler than in the male, and the anterior much less dense. 



The second type is uniformly pinkish-gi'ey, with fringes concolorous, and pre. 

 ceded (on the superior wings) by isolated black points. Besides, one sees, at the 

 apex of the band, a transverse series of intermediate black points or streaks. I do 

 not know the female of this form. 



Pielus vaeiolaris, Guenee, n. s. 



AlcB modo castanecd, modo grisece vel mgrieantes,Jlmbriis intersectis : 

 anticce guttis disco albescent e numerosis irregularibus sparsis, albidis nigro 

 cinctis, lineaque subterminali nigra margines non attingente : postica 

 subtus costa fiavo-brunnea. 40 mill. 



I only know the male, which varies greatly. The anterior wings are ordinarily 

 chestnut-brown, with the disc whitish ; but the brown often passes into blackish- 

 grey ; the wings are sprinkled with little irregular whitish spots, outlined with 

 black, and other yet smaller spots entirely black ; the largest are in the cellule, and 



* The British Museum Catalogues indicate many species proper to New Zealand, a country which 

 appears to be very rich in Noctumi. I am able to recognize some of them, but the greater part of those 

 sent to me seem new ; it may be that the locality where Mr. Fereday collects is dlfiPerent to those which 

 Messrs. Bolton, Colengo, and Sinclair visited, or that I have not been able to recognize many of theuj; 

 from the too often little precise descriptions by Mr. Walker.— A. G, 



NE, 1868. 



