X.—THE GHOMETRIDAE. 87 
and Wellington in the North Island, and at Christchurch, 
Akaroa, Otira and Invereargill in the South Island. 
The expansion of the wings is 12 inches. All the wings 
are sparsely covered with scales. The fore-wings of the male are 
dull reddish-brown, with numerous obscure transverse dusicy 
stripes; there are two rather conspicuous blackish blotches on 
the costa, a dull white dot in the middle of the wing, a wavy, 
pale, transverse line near the termen, and a series of black ter- 
minal dots; the veins are dotted in black and white. The hinda- 
wings are very small, dull grey, with the lobe large and con- 
Spicuous. The female is faintly tinged with green, the markings 
on the fore-wings are rather indistinct; the hind-wings are smail, 
though much larger than those of the male. 
Varies considerably in the intensity of the markings, 
especially in the female. A rather rare form of the female 
has a large pale-eentred brown or blackish blotch on the 
middle of the costa of the fore-wings. 
The perfect insect appears from November till March. 
It frequents densely wooded districts, but except in certain 
restricted localities, is not a very common species. The 
males are usually taken in the proportion of about ten to 
one female. 
TATOSOMA NIGRA. 
(Tatosoma nigra, Huds., Ent. Mo. Mag., lviii., 196.) 
(Plate L. fig. 22 9.) 
A single specimen of this insect was captured in forest 
at Whakapapa on the lower slopes of Mount Ruapehu at 
an elevation of about 4,000 feet above the sea level. 
The expansion of the wings of the female is 14 inches. The 
palpi are blackish, scarcely longer than the width of the head. 
The antennae are blackish with the apical portions dull ochreous. 
The head and thorax are dull greenish-ochreous; the abdomen is 
blackish densely speckled with whitish-ochreous. The fore- 
wings are rather broad with the termen very oblique, bowed 
outwards near the middle; there is a small dull greenish-ochreous 
basal patch, bisected by a broken black transverse line; the sub- 
basal area is black with a very few scattered white and dull 
reddish scales; the inner edge of the median band is bounded 
by a strongly dentate white line, with a very deep dentation 
just before the dorsum; its outer edge by a less dentate white 
line with a decided projection below the costa; within the 
median| band there are three distinct wavy black transverse 
lines, the intervening spaces being dark grey; the costal, discal 
and dorsal portions of the median band have a few scattered 
dull green and reddish scales; the terminal and subterminul 
areas are alnvost black with scattered dull green, whitish and 
dull reddish scales, these are thickest on the terminal area; 
there is a series of black terminal dots arranged in pairs; on 
the dorsum the spaces between all the black transverse lines 
are strongly marked in white and the main veins are more or 
less strongly marked in black; the cilia are pale rusty-ochreous 
barred with blackish. The hind-wings are greyish-ochreous 
with a cloudy median line; the cilia are greyish-ochreous. 
This species may be immediately recognised by its 
very short palpi and predominant black coloration. 
The moth appears in January. 
TATOSOMA TOPIA. 
(Tatosoma topea, Philp., Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxxv., 247, pl. xxxii., 
3, 4.) 
(Plate Sit figs 12° 47 13 9) 
This interesting little species was discovered by Mr. 
Philpott at West Plains, near Invercargill. It is generally 
distributed in the forest districts of Otago and Southland, 
and has also occurred at Christchurch and Otira. In the 
North Island it has been found at Waimarino, Horopito 
and Ohakune. 
The expansion of the wings of the male is nearly 14 inches; 
of the female about 1 inch. The fore-wings have the basal 
patch, median band, and terminal area more or less clouded 
with dull green, the remaining portions being pale ochreous- 
brown, irregularly strewn with rusty-red and blackish scales; 
there is a conspicuous white patch on the median band below 
the costa and a smaller patch at the junctions of veins 3 and 4; 
a double curved line in the middle of the median band encloses 
the smaller patch and a much less distinct line encircles the 
larger one; all the veins are strongly marked by alternate black 
and white bars; two wavy brownish transverse lines are situated 
on the subterminal area and are followed by a wavy whitish 
line; there is a terminal series of double blackish dots. The 
hind-wings and cilia of all the wings are greyish-ochreous. In 
the female the dull green markings are less distinct; the disc 
is often considerably clouded with white and the patches of 
rusty-red scales usually more extensive. 
The perfect insect’ appears from November till March. 
It flies freely at evening dusk, and is generally found in 
openings, or at the edges of forest. 
Genus 2.—HELVIA Walk. 
Face with cone of scales. Antennae in @ flattened, bipec- 
tinated. Palpi rather long, rough-scaled. Fore-wings: areole 
simple, 11 running into 12. MHind-wings normal. Wings longi- 
tudinally folded in repose. 
An endemic genus containing one species. 
ELVIA GLAUCATA. 
(Blvia glaucata, Walk., Cat. xxv., 1430; Feld., Reis. Nov. CXXxii. 
25. Elwia donovani, Feld., Reis. Nov. exxxii. 5. Hlvia glau- 
cata, Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. 65.) 
(Plate XII., figs. 14, 15 varieties; Plate I. figs. 34, 35 larvae. ) 
This very beautiful insect is generally distributed 
throughout the country. 
The expansion of the wings is about 1 inch. The fore-wings, 
which have the apex obtusely rounded and the termen slightly 
bowed, vary from pale green to deep steely blue (rarely pale 
orange-brown); there is a darker basal patch and median band 
each of which are bordered with somewhat wavy blackish lines; 
a large creamy-white patch is situated below the costa at about 
three-quarters, and there is a fine creamy-white subterminal 
line. The hind-wings, which have the termen deeply scalloped, 
are cream-coloured tinged with pale green or steely blue. The 
cilia of all the wings are pale greyish-ochreous, finely barred 
with blackish. 
This species is extremely variable. In addition to 
the variations above indicated the markings of many speci- 

