This species has occurred occasionally in the neighbourhood of Wellington, but has not yet been recorded from any other locality.
The expansion of the wings is 1½ inches. The fore-wings of the male are pale orange-brown; there is a doubly toothed shaded transverse line near the base, the teeth being marked with two black spots; a conspicuous wavy transverse line runs from the apex to the dorsum, and is also marked with several black dots; the space between the two transverse lines is paler than the rest of the wing; there is a row of small black dots on the termen, and the termen itself has two small projections. The hind-wings are yellowish at the base, becoming orange beyond the middle; there is a faint brownish transverse line near the base, and a conspicuous wavy transverse line at the middle, marked by a series of black dots; this central transverse line divides the yellowish ground colour of the basal area, from the orange ground colour of the rest of the wing. The female is larger and duller than the male; the fore-wings are yellowish drab, with the outer transverse line dull red; there is a series of minute black dots on the termen; the hind-wings are dull yellow, with a wavy central transverse line.
The only variety of this species which has come under my observation is a male. In this specimen all the wings are pale yellowish-brown, with very broad black transverse lines. (See Plate [X]., fig. 27.)
This insect is evidently closely allied to Azelina fortinata. It may, however, be distinguished from that species by the smaller projections on the termen of the fore- and hind-wings, and the dotted transverse lines of the male.
The perfect insect appears from January till April. It is met with much later in the season than either of the two other species of Azelina. It frequents forest, and may be found on the blossoms of the white rata, but is, I think, the rarest of the genus.
AZELINA FORTINATA, Gn.
(Polygonia fortinata, Gn., E. M. M. v. 41. Caustoloma (?) ziczac, Feld. cxxxii. 4. Azelina fortinata, Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 106.)
(Plate [X]., fig. 24 ♂, 25 ♀.)
This beautiful insect occurs occasionally in forests in both the North and the South Islands. It has been taken at Wellington, Nelson, Castle Hill, Akaroa, Mount Hutt, West Plains and Otara.
The expansion of the wings is 1¼ inches. The fore-wings of the male are pale orange-brown, with a doubly toothed black transverse line near the base, and a less acutely toothed line beyond the middle; between these there is a black mark on the costa; the termen has two large projections, and several smaller ones; between the outer transverse line and the termen there are several small black markings. The hind-wings are yellowish, clouded with orange-brown towards the termen, which also has several projections; there is a faint blackish line near the base, and a much stronger black line near the middle, starting from the dorsum and reaching about half-way across the wing. The female has the fore-wings dark brown, with the central area between the two transverse lines paler; the hind-wings are also considerably darker than those in the male.