































































The perfect insect appears ‘in January, and flies low 
beneath Leptospermum and other shrubs. 
Described and figured from a specimen kindly given 
to me by Mr. Philpott. 
HIERODORIS INSIGNIS. 
(Hierodoris insignis, Philp., Trans. N.Z. Inst., lvi., 397.) 
(Plate LII., fig. 31 9.) 
This very robust, distinctly-marked species was dis- 
covered by Mr. S. Lindsay, on the Tableland of Mount 
Arthur, at an altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea-level. 
The expansion of the wings is 4 inch. The fore-wings are 
elongate-oval with the apex rather blunt; dwll white heavily 
strewn with greyish scales, with thick black markings; a broad 
bar on costa near base; a strongly-curved constricted black band 
from before middle of costa to near termen at 4; a large round 
black spot beyond this; a large black blotch on outer third of 
costa, hardly touching the round spot; a cloudy brownish-black 
spot at apex; a shaded purplish patch on dorsum at base. The 
hind-wings are grey finely dotted with darker grey. The head, 
thorax and abdomen are very stout, purplish-black. The hind- 
legs are black barred with dull white. 
The perfect insect appears in January. 
Described and figured from specimen submitted by Mr. 
Philpott. 
Genus 3.—HELIOSTIBES, Zell. 
Labial palpi with appressed scales, terminal joint shorter 
than second, acute. Fore-wings with vein 7 and 8 stalked, 7 to 
apex. (Plate H., figs. 21, 22, 23 neuration and head of Heliostibes 
atychioides.) : 
This is a small genus, essentially characteristic of New 
Zealand, the single species known elsewhere being found in 
Chili. Its members are all active insects of diurnal habits, 
and fly with a rapid mazy flight in the hottest sunshine. 
There are six New Zealand species, of which one is con- 
fined to the North Island, three to the South Island, and 
two occur in both islands. 
HELIOSTIBES CALLISPORA. 
(Heliostibes callispora, Meyr., Exot., Micr., i., 41; 
Trans; INeZo Insts xlve,e2a)) 
(Plate XXXTII., fig. 24.) 
This very distinct species was discovered at Wainuio- 
mata, and has occurred at several other places near Well- 
ington, but is a rare insect. 
The expansion of the wings is % inch. The palpi are 
orange-brown and the neck has a collar of orange-yellow scales. 
The fore-wings are triangular very deep indigo-brown thickly 
strewn with pale greenish-yellow hair scales. The hind-wings are 
dark bronzy-brown. 
The perfect insect appears in December, and is found 
in serub where Miihlenbeckia is abundant. Like the other 
members of the genus it flies freely in hot sunshine. 
HELIOSTIBES ELECTRICA. 
(Heliostibes electrica, Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxi., 157.) 
(Plate XXXIII., fig. 26 9.) 
This very distinct silver-marked species has occurred 
in the South Island at Mount Arthur, Lake Tekapo, Lake 
Wakatipu, and Invereargill, 
XVII—THE 

TINEIDAE. 
The expansion of the wings is slightly under 3 inch. The 
fore-wings are dark blackish-brown irregularly strewn with elon- 
gate ochreous scales; there is an obscure metallic transverse line 
near the base; a wavy, silver-metallic line from above the mid- 
ale of the wing to the dorsum before the tornus; another curved 
metallic line encircles a very large black patch on the costa at 
about % and a fourth metallic line runs parallel with the termen; 
a clear white spot is situated on the costa near the middle and 
another just before the apex. The hind-wings are dark grey. 
The perfect insect appears from the middle of Decem- 
ber until the end of February, and delights in the hottest 
sunshine. It seems to be a very rare and local species, 
exeept in the extreme south, where Mr. Philpott states it 
is not uncommon. It was discovered in the year 1886, by 
Mr. Meyrick, on Mount Arthur, at an elevation of 4,700 
feet above the sea-level, but since then it has not been ob- 
served in that locality. 
HELIOSTIBES ATYCHIOIDES. 
(Tachyptilia atychioides, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1877, 405, 
pl. xliii., 14; Heliostibes atychioides, Meyr., Trans. N.Z. 
ANSte Xe Oo) 
(Plate XXXIII., fig. 28 9; Plate III., fig. 13 larva.) 
This very active, dark-coloured, sun-loving insect is 
common and generally distributed throughout the country. 
The expansion of the wings is 3 inch. The fore-wings, which 
are rather elongate and somewhat dilated posteriorly, are dark 
blackish-brown very thickly streaked with ochreous-brown; there 
are usually two or three large, irregular, black spots in the 
dise, often surrounded by a cloudy white Shading. The hind- 
wings are very dark brown. 
Considerable variation exists in the presence or ab- 
senee of distinct markings on the fore-wings and the gen- 
eral ground colour is very rarely replaced by dull orange- 
brown. 
The larva when full-grown is about § inch in length, cylin- 
drical and slightly attenuated behind. The head is dark brown 
with two broad black stripes; the second segment is very horny, 
dark brown, paler beneath, with a white dorsal stripe; the third 
and fourth segments have horny dorsal plates; the remaining 
segments are yellowish-brown, sometimes slightly purplish- 
tinged, with a very conspicuous dorsal line and a row of large 
white-edged black spots on each side of it; there are two rather 
irregular, whitish, lateral lines with a series of horny tubercles 
between them. 
The larva feeds in the terminal shoots of the manuka 
(Leptospermum  scoparium) and tauhinu (Cassinia), 
which it joins together forming a gallery composed of silk 
and refuse. Within this retreat it feeds during the winter, 
becoming full-grown about the end of October. The larva 
is gregarious, several living in the same shoot, and where 
found is often very abundant. It is active in its habits, 
and eludes eapture by wriggling along the gallery, from 
which it often escapes and drops to the ground, and thus 
no doubt avoids destruction by birds. In gardens and other 
cultivated places it feeds in the young shoots of Cupressus 
macrocarpa, which it joins together in the same way as 
those of the manuka or tauhinu. 
The pupa is enclosed in a small cocoon within one of 
the silken galleries. 


