The expansion of the wings is ¾ inch. The fore-wings are dark greyish-brown speckled with black and white; there is a curved black transverse line near the base, followed by a white line, then two black lines close together followed by another white line, then a broad black line followed by a pale central band containing a well-marked central dot, beyond this there are two angulated black lines, and a very conspicuous white line; there is a broad black shading on the termen, traversed by a rather obscure fine white line. The hind-wings are rather narrow, yellowish-orange speckled with black near the base, there is a strongly angulated black line near the middle, and an obscure blackish band near the termen. On the under side the fore-wings are yellow, with two black transverse bands from the costa near the termen and a red mark near the apex; the hind-wings are streaked with white and yellow, and broadly bordered with red on the costa and termen; there are two very broad black transverse bands. The female is paler than the male, with the dark markings rather narrower.
The perfect insect appears in February and March, and frequents open, sunny places, at elevations of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea-level.
Genus 13.—DASYURIS, Gn.
"Face rough-haired or with projecting scales. Palpi moderate, porrected, with long dense rough hairs. Antennæ in male shortly ciliated. Thorax and coxæ densely hairy beneath. Posterior tibiæ with all spurs present. Fore-wings with areole double. Hind-wings with vein 8 anastomosing with cell from near base to beyond middle."—(Meyrick.) (Plate [II]., fig. 42, neuration of fore-wing. Hind-wing as in Xanthorhoe.)
Of this genus we have four species in New Zealand.
DASYURIS ENYSII, Butl.
(Fidonia enysii, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1877, 391, pl. xlii. 9. Statira homomorpha, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 91. Statira enysii, ib. xvii. 65. Stathmonyma enysii, ib. xviii. 184.)
(Plate [VIII]., fig. 28.)
This species has occurred in the South Island on the Dun Mountain near Nelson, and at Mount Hutt.
The expansion of the wings is about 1 inch. The fore-wings are greyish-brown, with numerous wavy blackish transverse lines; there is usually a wavy yellowish transverse stripe near the base, and another broader and more conspicuous stripe near the termen; the termen itself is broadly shaded with dark brown. The hind-wings are orange-yellow; there is a small dusky brown area near the base, then a faint straight transverse line, followed by a slightly waved conspicuous dark brown line; there is a very wavy broad dark brown line near the termen, and the termen itself is narrowly edged with dark brown.