Part 29

The perfect insect appears in October, November and December. It frequents dense forest ravines, and is generally disturbed from amongst dead leaves or old fern fronds. It is usually a very scarce species, but appears to be much commoner in some years than in others. According to Mr. Meyrick, it is also found in Australia.

This species is placed by Mr. Meyrick in the genus Rhapsa. The simple antennæ and absence of the broad costal fold in the males would appear, however, to remove it from that genus, as restricted by him in the 'Transactions' of the New Zealand Institute, xix. 38. In all other respects it appears to conform to the genus.

{38}II.--THE NOTODONTINA.

The Notodontina are characterized as follows:--

"The maxillary palpi are obsolete. Fore-wings with vein 1b usually furcate, but with lower fork often weak or tending to be obsolete, 5 rising not nearer to 4 than to 6, parallel, 7 and 8 out of 9. Hind-wings almost always with frenulum, 1c absent. (Plate II., figs. 19 to 64, and Plate I., figs. 12 and 13.)

"Imago with fore-wings more or less broad-triangular; hind-wings broad-ovate."--(Meyrick.)

Larva (in New Zealand) generally with 10 or 12 legs only (Plate III., figs. 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 24), rarely with 16 (Sphinx, Pl. III., figs. 13 and 14).

"Pupa with segments 9 to 11 free; not protruded from cocoon in emergence."--(Meyrick.)

This is a very extensive group of the Lepidoptera, and so far as it is represented in New Zealand is equivalent to that group formerly known as the Geometrina, with the addition of the family Sphingidæ. The insects here included comprise many of our most interesting, abundant, and beautiful species. Some of them are so extremely variable that it is often a matter of considerable difficulty to determine the most convenient points on which to base the specific distinctions; although fortunately great advances have been made in this direction of late years owing to the increase in the number of workers, and the consequent accumulation of available material. In connection with this portion of the subject, special mention should be made of Mr. Meyrick's paper on the group, which appeared in the 'Transactions' of the New Zealand Institute for 1883. This essay has been of the greatest value in dispelling the doubts which formerly existed respecting the limits of many of the most variable species.

The Notodontina are represented in New Zealand by the six following families:--

1. HYDRIOMENIDÆ. 4. ORTHOSTIXIDÆ. 2. STERRHIDÆ. 5. SELIDOSEMIDÆ. 3. MONOCTENIADÆ. 6. SPHINGIDÆ.

Family 1.--HYDRIOMENIDÆ.

The Hydriomenidae are thus characterized:--

"Tongue well developed. Fore-wings with vein 10 rising separate; anastomosing with 11 and 9 (forming double areole), or rising out of 11 and anastomosing with 9 (forming simple areole). Hind-wings with vein 5 fully developed, parallel to 4, 6, and 7 almost always stalked or connate, 8 anastomosing with upper margin of cell from near base to beyond middle, or sometimes approximated only and connected by a bar or shortly anastomosing beyond middle." (Plate II., figs. 19 to 43.)

"A very large family distributed in equal plenty throughout all temperate regions, but becoming scarcer within the tropics. The structure is very uniform throughout, and the generic distinctions slight. Imago with body slender, fore-wings usually broad.

"Ovum broad, oval, rather flattened with usually oval reticulations. Larva elongate, slender, with few hairs, without prolegs on segments 7 to 9; often imitating live or dead twigs and shoots. Pupa usually subterranean."--(Meyrick.)

{39}This family is very extensively represented in New Zealand by the following fifteen genera:--

1. TATOSOMA. 5. ELVIA. 9. VENUSIA. 13. DASYURIS.

2. PARADETIS. 6. HYDRIOMENA. 10. ASAPHODES. 14. NOTOREAS.

3. CHLOROCLYSTIS. 7. EUCHOECA. 11. XANTHORHOE. 15. SAMANA.

4. PHRIXOGONUS. 8. ASTHENA. 12. LYTHRIA.

Genus 1.--TATOSOMA, Butl.

"Face smooth. Palpi long, straight, porrected, shortly rough-scaled, terminal joint short. Antennæ in male simple, stout, gradually dilated from base to near apex, apex attenuated. Abdomen in male very excessively elongate. Hind-wings in male deeply excised near dorsum, dorsal lobe folded into a long pocket, fringed with hairs. Fore-wings with vein 6 rising out of 9, 7 from or above angle of areole, 10 anastomosing moderately with 9, 11 anastomosing moderately with 10, 12 free. Hind-wings with veins 6 and 7 separate, 8 free, united with 7 before transverse vein by an oblique bar.

"This singular genus is a remnant of a widely diffused, but now fragmentary group, to which belong also Lobophora (Europe), Rhopalodes (South America), Sauris (Ceylon), and Remodes (Borneo.) In all, the hind-wings of the male are peculiarly modified, usually much diminished in size, and with the dorsum formed into a distinct lobe, the object of which is unknown. A similar structure is found only in one or two genera of Tortricina. Rhopalodes is the nearest genus to this, but vein 5 is said to be obsolete, and the lobe does not form a pocket; in Sauris the areole is simple, and the antennæ thickly scaled; in Remodes the areole is also simple, the antennæ flattened and scaled, and the dorsum is furnished with three superposed lobular folds, so that it represents the extreme of development in this direction."--(Meyrick.)

It will be seen on reference to Plate II., figs. 22 and 23, which represent the structure of the hind-wings of the male and female of Tatosoma agrionata respectively, that in the male veins 1 and 2 are absent, having no doubt become absorbed during the formation of the characteristic sexual lobe; vein 8 is connected with the margin of the cell by an oblique bar, this being probably due to an extension of the wing in the costal region, compensating for the loss in the dorsal region due to the above-mentioned lobe. In the hind-wings of the female the normal neuration of the family is almost preserved, the only peculiar feature consisting in the origin of veins 6 and 7 from a point on the margin of the cell.

Of this remarkable genus we have three species, and I think it quite possible that others may reward the industry of future collectors.

TATOSOMA LESTEVATA, Walk.

(Cidaria lestevata, Walk. 1416. Sauris ranata, Feld. cxxxi. 11., Tatosoma lestevata, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 67.)