This fine species has been taken in the North Island at Auckland, Kaitoke, and Wellington.
The expansion of the wings is about 3 inches. The fore-wings are rather dull yellow, finely marbled with black; _there are two conspicuous irregular black marks a little above the middle of the dorsum. The hind-wings are very dark purplish-brown with the cilia yellow, barred with brown._ The head and thorax are dull yellow, speckled with black, and the abdomen is dark purplish-brown, barred with dull white, with a yellow tuft at the apex.
The perfect insect appears in October, November, and December. At present I am only aware of four specimens in collections, viz., two in the British Museum, taken at Auckland; one in Mr. Meyrick's collection, taken by Mr. H. B. Kirk on the Rimutaka Ranges, at an elevation of about 1,500 feet; and one kindly given to me by Mr. W. R. Morris, who took it at Wadestown, near Wellington.[69] It is evidently a scarce species, but may be looked for in the forest districts of the North Island.
(_Elhamma cervinata_, Walk., Suppl. 595. _Porina vexata_, ib. 597. _Pielus variolaris_, Gn., Ent. Mo. Mag. v. 1. _Porina fuliginea_, Butl., Cist. Ent. ii. 488. _Porina cervinata_, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xxii. 208.)
(Plate XIII., fig. 12 [M], fig. 18 variety of [F].)
This insect is fairly common, and generally distributed throughout the country. It is very abundant in the Manawatu district.
The expansion of the wings is about 1½ inches. The fore-wings vary from brownish-black to dull yellow; there are several small white spots near the base margined with black, and an obscure cloudy central streak, sometimes containing one or two minute irregular white marks; near the termen a broad, pale, wavy line runs from the costa to the dorsum, and contains several elongate dull white spots, margined with black; another series of smaller spots is often situated between this line and the termen; there is a terminal row of small black spots. The { 134}hind-wings vary from pale greyish-brown to dull yellow. The cilia of all the wings are barred with dark brown.
This species is extremely variable. In many cases a large number of the spots is wanting. Mr. Meyrick states that the northern specimens are more yellow-ochreous, and more distinctly spotted than the southern ones. He adds that "the ochreous forms are easily distinguished from other species by the numerous spots and the absence of a continuous pale discal streak; the fuscous forms are sometimes very similar in colouring to _P. despecta_, but they are distinctly shorter-winged, and the compound discal spots appear to be a good character."