Described and figured from a specimen in Mr. Fereday's collection.
LEUCANIA MICRASTRA, Meyr.
(Leucania micrastra, Meyr., Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1897, 383.)
(Plate [IV]., fig. 10.)
Three specimens of this insect have occurred in my garden at Karori.
The expansion of the wings is 1⅝ inches. The fore-wings are bright orange-brown; there are several white scales near the base, two black-edged white dots at about one-third, a small black spot with a shining white dot on each side of it at the origin of veins 3 and 4, and a series of black and white dots on all the veins near the termen; the cilia are orange-brown tipped with white. The hind-wings are pale ochreous-brown. The cilia are ochreous broadly tipped with white.
This species somewhat resembles Leucania alopa in general appearance, but the wings are narrower and the colour of the fore-wings is considerably brighter.
The moth appears in December.
LEUCANIA UNICA, Walk.
(Leucania unica, Walk., Noct. 112; Butl., Voy. Ereb., pl. ix. 9. Nonagria juncicolor, Gn., Ent. Mo. Mag. v. 2. Leucania unica, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 10.)