(Larentia bryopis, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xx. 57.)
Discovered by Mr. Meyrick in the South Island on Mount Arthur, 4,500 feet above the sea-level.
"Male.—29-32 mm. (about 1¼ inches). Head, palpi, thorax, abdomen, and legs pale greyish-ochreous, slightly greenish-tinged, irrorated with blackish. Antennæ whitish, annulated with black. Fore-wings with costa gently arched, termen somewhat rounded, rather oblique; pale greyish-ochreous, tinged with olive-greenish, irrorated with blackish-grey, tending to form waved transverse lines on basal area; median band margined with dentate black lines and outside them with white; anterior from one-third of costa to one-third of dorsum, curved, posterior from beyond two-thirds of costa to three-fourths of dorsum, somewhat indented above middle, with a moderate double prominence in middle; three blackish-grey subdentate lines within median band, first near and parallel to anterior edge, other two near and parallel to posterior edge, first and second tending to be confluent below middle, space between these more or less suffused with white, enclosing a small black discal spot; an obscure dentate whitish subterminal line, anteriorly margined with dark fuscous, preceded and followed by waved fuscous lines; a terminal series of pairs of dark fuscous dots; cilia ochreish-grey, whitish, barred with fuscous, and with a fuscous basal line. Hind-wings ochreous-grey, with waved darker grey transverse lines, except towards base; a dark grey discal dot before middle; posterior edge of median band formed as in fore-wings, followed by an obscure whitish line and somewhat paler band; terminal dots and cilia as in fore-wings, but more obscure.
"Appears in January; not uncommon. Nearest allied to X. beata."—(Meyrick.)
XANTHORHOE BEATA, Butl.
(Cidaria beata, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1877, 397, pl. xliii. 6. Larentia beata, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 79.)
(Plate [VII]., fig. 35 ♂, 36 ♀.)
This very beautiful species has occurred at Wellington in the North Island, is common and generally distributed throughout the South Island, and has also been found at Stewart Island.
The expansion of the wings is about 1 inch. The fore-wings are bright green; there is a darker area at the base edged with a jagged white line; then a paler band followed by a very broad darker green central band edged with very jagged white lines, and containing several white patches in the middle, one of which is situated close to the costa and encloses a black dot; beyond this central band there is a paler area, then an interrupted darker green band edged with white towards the termen. There is an oblique pale mark from the apex of the wing. The hind-wings are very pale ochreous, sometimes slightly tinged with green; there are several obscure rows of dusky spots.
The white markings included in the central band are rather variable.