It may be well to point out that the genus Melanchra was formerly known by the name of Mamestra.
MELANCHRA DISJUNGENS, Walk.
(Heliophobus disjungens, Walk., Noct. 1681; Butl., Voy. Ereb., pl. ix. 1. Hadena nervata, Gn., Ent. Mo. Mag. v. 40. Mamestra disjungens, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 15.)
(Plate [V]., fig. 43.)
This species has occurred in the South Island at Ashburton and at Rakaia.
The expansion of the wings is about 1⅜ inches. The fore-wings are brownish-grey; the veins are very conspicuously marked in white, the orbicular and reniform are large, white, each with a dusky centre; there is a conspicuous, white, transverse line near the termen, emitting two white, tooth-like projections on veins 3 and 4, and connected with a longitudinal line running to the base of the wing. The hind-wings are grey with the cilia white.
The perfect insect appears from November till January. It was formerly a common species near Rakaia, but is now much scarcer.
MELANCHRA PARACAUSTA, Meyr.
(Mamestra paracausta, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 15.)
(Plate [IV]., fig. 28 ♂, 28A ♀.)