
































































AVIL—THE 
The expansion of the wings is 4 inch. . The fore-wings are 
elongate-oval with the termen rather oblique, dull greyish-purple 
darker in the disc, irregularly mottled with red and with a few 
scattered dull orange scales; there is an elongate curved black- 
edged white mark placed obliquely before the middle of the disc 
and another much smaller one beyond the middle. The hind- 
wings, which have the apex rather pointed, are ochreous-grey. 
The ground colour is rather variable. In some speci- 
mens the reddish mottling predominates, others are much 
greyer, whilst others again are somewhat bronzy. 
The perfect insect appears in January. 
Genus 7.—ORTHENCHES, Meyr. 
Basal joint of antennae with pecten. Fore-wings with 
veins 7 and 8 separate. Hind-wings with 3 and 4 remote. (Plate 
H., figs. 42, 48, 44 mneuration and head of Orthenches droso- 
chaled.) 
Besides the eleven following species, there are at 
present known only one from Australia, and one from 
India. Of the New Zealand species two are restricted to 
the North Island; two to the South Island, and seven 
occur in both islands. 
ORTHENCHES SALEUTA. 
(Orthenches saleuta, Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst., xly., 28.) 
(Plate XXXVI., fig. 3 9.) 
This species has oecurred at Waiouru on the elevated 
central plains of the North Island; also on Mount Ruapehu, 
and Mount Egmont. : 
The expansion of the wings is about seven-sixteenths of an 
inch. The fore-wings are elongate-oblong with the apex pointed 
and the termen obliquely-rounded; grey strewn with dark brown 
scales tending to form spots and bars, the spaces between these 
markings being more or less speckled with white, especially in 
the disc and towards the apex; the cilia are grey with coppery 
tips around the apex. The hind-wings and cilia are grey. 
The perfect insect appears in February, and flies 
freely in the late afternoon sunshine. It swarms over the 
flowers of Dracophyllum. 
ORTHENCHES CHARTULARIA. 
(Orthenches chartularia, Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst., lv., 205.) 
(Plate L., fig. 25 4.) 
This very pretty little species was discovered at Wha- 
kapapa, Mount Ruapehu, at an elevation of about 4,000 
feet above sea-level. : 
The expansion of the wings is about % inch. The fore 
wings are snow-white mottled and spotted with black; there is 
a very broken chain of black blotches reaching from the base 
to the apex; numerous minute bars on the basal third of costa; 
four small blotches on costa beyond this; the apical terminal and 
basal areas are more or less densely strewn with blackish marks, 
the costal and dorsal areas being mostly white; the cilia are 
whitish mixed with blackish-grey. The hind-wings and cilia are 
white. 
Variable in the extent and intensity of the black 
markings, 
The perfect insect appears in January, and may be 
looked for in grassy glades in subalpine forest. 

TINEIDAE. 

ORTHENCHES DROSOCHALCA. 
(Orthenches dirosochalca, Meyr., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 
1905, 242.) 
(Plate XXXVI., fig. 4 9.) 
This brilliant little insect has occurred at Auckland, 
Wellington, Mount Arthur and the Otira River. 
The expansion of the wings is about 8 inch. The fore- 
wings are rather narrow with the costa slightly arched and the 
apex somewhat prominent; shining metallic copper colour be- 
coming dull bronze in certain lights; there are four very irre- 
gular transverse bands of scattered silvery-white scales and the 
costal and terminal portions of the wings are also more or less 
strewn with patches of similar scales; there is a rather indis- 
tinet dark blue spot in the disc beyond the middle. The hind- 
wings are pale grey. 
This species varies somewhat in size and in the brill- 
aney of the metallic ground colour of the fore-wings. 
The larva, which feeds on the silvery tree fern (Cya- 
thea dealbata) in January, is about 4 inch in length, cylin- 
drical tapering at each end with the segmental divisions 
deeply excised, uniform dark green and shining. The 
pupa is enclosed in a small oval cocoon fastened to a fern 
frond. Mr. Miller informs me that he has bred this insect 
from the fruit of tihe kahikatea. (Podocarpus dacrydi- 
oides.) | 
The perfect insect appears from January till March. 
I have beaten it in some numbers out of young miro trees 
(Podocarpus ferrugineus) but, generally speaking, it is not 
a common species. When at rest the wings are closed over 
the back forming a cylinder; the fore- and intermediate 
legs are exposed and the antennae extended forwards and 
divergent. In this position the insect is evidently on the 
alert. 
Mr. Meyrick points out that this species is allied to 
O. porphyritis, and similar in form of wing, but structur- 
ally distinct by vein 7 of the fore-wings running to ter- 
men, not apex, and terminal jomt of palpi 15 instead of 
2, as well as by the clear coppery-bronze colouring and 
lighter hind-wings. 
ORTHENCHES PORPHYRITIS. 
(Orthenches porphyritis, Meyr., Trans, N.Z. Inst., xviii., 176; 
Yponomeuta cuprea, Meyr., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1901, 
515.) 
(Piate XXXVI., figs. 6 and 29 varieties.) 
This mottled, bronzy-looking species has occurred at 
Auckland, Waimarino, Wellington, Arthur’s Pass, Otira 
River, Dunedin and Invercargill, but does not seem to be 
generally common. 
The expansion of the wings is 4 inch. The fore-wings are 
elongate with the apex rather acute; pale brown with pale green 
and dull coppery metallic reflections; there are often three very 
irregular large white blotches in the disc, the first before the 
middle, the second near the middle and the third beyond the 
middle; there is a series of short dark brown bars on the costa 
and a number of blackish-brown dots on the dorsum and termen, 
there are also traces of black dots on some of the veins; in cer- 
tain lights the dorsal half of the wing gleams with pale metallic 
green and the costal half with dull coppery-bronze. The hind- 
wings are dark greyish-brown with the tips very acute. 

