The expansion of the wings varies from 1¼ to 1½ inches. The fore-wings are light ochreous-brown; there is a small white-edged brown spot near the base; two oblique curved brown transverse lines enclosing between them a white space towards the dorsum; a short stripe on the costa, near the middle, edged with white towards the base of the wing; a doubly curved transverse line beyond the middle, finely edged with white towards the base of the wing; there is also a short white-edged brown stripe extending from the apex of the wing to the last-named transverse line, the two lines enclosing between them a small pale triangular area; there are five short longitudinal brown lines running from the termen to the outermost of the transverse lines, two of them being tipped with white towards the base of the wing. The hind-wings are dull ochreous-brown, with two very faint brown transverse lines towards the dorsum, and several whitish spots and one brown spot near the tornus. The female is a little darker in colour than the male.
This insect varies slightly in size.
The larva feeds on Cyathea dealbata (tree-fern) in September. Its colour is dull reddish-brown with an irregular brownish-black blotch on the side of each segment, and a dark brown dorsal line. It is very sluggish in its habits.
The pupa is concealed amongst moss, &c., on the surface of the ground, the insect remaining in this state for about six weeks.
The moth appears from September till March, and frequents dense forests. It has been dislodged from its food-plant in the daytime, and has also been taken on the flowers of the white rata in the evening.
SELIDOSEMA MELINATA, Feld.
(Numeria melinata, Feld. cxxix. 9. Pseudocoremia indistincta, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1877, 394, pl. xliii. 8. Pseudocoremia melinata, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 99.)
(Plate [IX]., fig. 15 ♂, 16 ♀.)
This species is very common, and generally distributed throughout the country.
The expansion of the wings of the male is 1¼ inches, of the female 1½ inches. The fore-wings are dull greenish-grey, with black markings; there is a transverse line near the base; another near the middle, followed by two broken irregular lines, then a broader, paler area sometimes white, followed by a series of jagged pale markings shaded with black. The hind-wings are ochreous mottled with pale brown near the dorsum; there is a series of black dots on the termen of both fore- and hind-wings.