Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 15.djvu/29

The present paper is the first of a series, which I hope to publish from time to time, describing the whole of the Micro-Lepidoptera of New Zealand; including under that term the Pyralidina, Pterophorina, Tortricina and Tineina. My intention is to take a family at a time, and monograph it as completely as is at present possible, prefacing each with some general remarks on its classsification and affinities, and the inferences which may be drawn from its distribution with relation to New Zealand. For the sake of convenience and expedition, I shall not take the families in their natural order, but according as for various reasons they are easiest treated.

The most essential character for classification is the neuration, and it is absolutely necessary that this should be investigated for the accurate determination of genera. It is not, however, by any means always necessary that a specimen should be denuded of scales for the purpose; with the aid of a lens the veins can generally be made out by inspection of the undersurface of the wing, where they are more prominent, especially if one has previously examined types of the principal groups and learnt what to look for. The terminology employed hereafter is that generally in use on the Continent of Europe, and from its simplicity and adaptability is far superior to the awkward and confusing nomenclature sometimes adopted. The veins are all numbered, starting from the one nearest the inner margin, and ending with the one nearest the costa. Typically, there are in the forewings twelve veins, 1 and 12 being free, and the other ten springing from the margins of a central cell, consisting of an upper, lower and hind-margin, often called the sub-costal, median (or upper and lower median), and transverse veins; sometimes there is a partition-vein in the upper part