"Appears in January; one specimen. It is conceivable that this may be the other sex of the following species, but they are very dissimilar, and I do not at present think it probable."--(Meyrick.)
(_Larentia bryopis_, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xx. 57.)
Discovered by Mr. Meyrick in the South Island on Mount Arthur, 4,500 feet above the sea-level.
"_Male_.--29-32 mm. (about 1¼ inches). Head, palpi, thorax, abdomen, and legs pale greyish-ochreous, slightly greenish-tinged, irrorated with blackish. Antennæ whitish, annulated with black. Fore-wings with costa gently arched, termen somewhat rounded, rather oblique; pale greyish-ochreous, tinged with olive-greenish, irrorated with blackish-grey, tending to form waved transverse lines on basal area; median band margined with dentate black lines and outside them with white; anterior from one-third of costa to one-third of dorsum, curved, posterior from beyond two-thirds of costa to three-fourths of dorsum, somewhat indented above middle, with a moderate double prominence in middle; three blackish-grey subdentate lines within median band, first near and parallel to anterior edge, other two near and parallel to posterior edge, first and second tending to be confluent below middle, space between these more or less suffused with white, enclosing a small black discal spot; an obscure dentate whitish subterminal line, anteriorly margined with dark fuscous, preceded and followed by waved fuscous lines; a terminal series of pairs of dark fuscous dots; cilia ochreish-grey, whitish, barred with fuscous, and with a fuscous basal line. Hind-wings ochreous-grey, with waved darker grey transverse lines, except towards base; a dark grey discal dot before middle; posterior edge of median band formed as in fore-wings, followed by an obscure whitish line and somewhat paler band; terminal dots and cilia as in fore-wings, but more obscure.
"Appears in January; not uncommon. Nearest allied to _X. beata_."--(Meyrick.)
(_Cidaria beata_, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1877, 397, pl. xliii. 6. _Larentia beata_, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xvi. 79.)
This very beautiful species has occurred at Wellington in the North Island, is common and generally distributed throughout the South Island, and has also been found at Stewart Island.