This extremely pretty insect is very common, and generally distributed throughout the country.
The expansion of the wings is about an inch. The fore-wings of the male are pale pink; there are several wavy brown lines near the base, a very distinct brown central band, narrowest near the middle, but much broader on the costa than on the dorsum; the centre of this band is paler towards the costa; the termen is shaded with brown, except near the apex of the wing; the veins are dotted in black. The hind-wings are bright ochreous with numerous wavy darker lines. The female is darker in colour than the male, the central band is broader; there are numerous brown and pink wavy lines on each side of the central band, and the principal veins are marked in pale ochreous. The grey transverse lines on the hind-wings are much more distinct in the female than in the male.
The perfect insect appears from September till April, and is very common in rather open forest districts, usually frequenting undergrowth on the edges of the denser forest. It is often one of the earliest of the Notodontina to appear in spring, and its advent is then especially welcome to the collector after the long inaction of winter. It is evidently closely allied to X. orophyla, which appears to be the southern and Alpine representative of this interesting insect. Coremia ypsilonaria, Gn., is the male, and Cidaria delicatulata, Gn., is the female of this species.
XANTHORHOE LOPHOGRAMMA, Meyr.
(Xanthorhoe lophogramma, Meyr., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1897, 386.)
(Plate [VII]., fig. 47 ♂, 48 ♀.)
This species was discovered at Castle Hill in January, 1893.
The expansion of the wings is about 1⅛ inches. The insect differs from X. semifissata in the following respects: In the male the general colour is slightly duller, the outer edge of the central band on the fore-wings is more indented, and the veins are not dotted in black. In the female the markings on the fore-wings are less distinct, the veins are not marked in pale ochreous, the outer edge of the central band is more deeply indented, and there is a darker shading near the termen than in X. semifissata. The hind-wings of both sexes are dark ochreous, without any transverse markings.
XANTHORHOE CHLAMYDOTA, Meyr.
(Epyaxa chlamydota, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 72.)