The expansion of the wings is 1¼ inches. _The fore-wings are slaty-brown; there is a broken, black-edged, white, transverse line near the base, and another at about one-third; the orbicular is indicated by a conspicuous black-edged white crescent, the reniform is large, oblong, white, margined with {18}black, and crossed by two grey lines_; there is an interrupted white terminal transverse line and a series of black dots on the termen. The hind-wings are grey, paler towards the base; the cilia of all the wings are slaty-brown. Described and figured from a specimen in Mr. Fereday's collection. MELANCHRA MUTANS, Walk. (_Hadena mutans_, Walk., Noct. 602. _H. lignifusca_, ib. 603. _Mamestra angusta_, Feld., Reis. Nov., pl. cix. 18. _M. acceptrix_, ib., pl. cix. 19. _Hadena debilis_, Butl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1877, 385, pl. xlii. 6. _Mamestra mutans_, Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 17.) (Plate IV., fig. 34 [M], 35 [F], 36 [M], variety; Plate III., fig. 15, larva.) This is a very abundant species throughout the country. The expansion of the wings is about 1½ inches. The fore-wings are pale reddish-brown in the male, grey in the female; the markings are black and somewhat indistinct; the orbicular spot is nearly round, the claviform semicircular, the reniform large and not margined with black towards the termen; a line runs parallel with the termen, and emits on its outer side a tooth-like mark; inside this line the ground colouring of the wing is usually lighter. The hind-wings are grey, darker in the male; the cilia are white with a cloudy line. The head, thorax, and abdomen are brown in the male, grey in the female. The antennæ are slightly bipectinate in the male. This species varies much in the ground colouring of the fore-wings, especially in the male, where it ranges from pale pinkish-brown to dark brown. The wings of the female are frequently much clouded with dark grey. The larva is rather stout, with the anterior segments wrinkled. It varies much in colour; the dorsal surface is usually reddish-brown; the lateral line is broad and black; a series of subdorsal stripes are also black; the ventral surface is green. Sometimes these markings are hardly visible, and the larva is entirely green, whilst occasionally the brown colouring predominates. It is a sluggish caterpillar, and feeds on low plants (_Plantago_, &c.) during the whole of the spring and summer. It often frequents the luxuriant growth surrounding logs and stones which have long been left undisturbed. The pupa state is spent in the earth or amongst moss on fallen trees. When this stage occurs in the summer it is of short duration, but in the case of larvæ becoming full grown in the autumn, the regular emergence does not take place until the following spring.