Bibliographical Notice. 149 



In our notice of the first volume we described the general plan of 

 the work, and indicated what we regarded as defects in the mode in 

 which this was carried out, so that, as no change has been made in 

 these respects, we may pass at once to the consideration of the con- 

 tents of the volume now before us. 



The twenty-four species of minute Moths now selected by Mr. 

 Stainton for illustration belong to two very nearly allied genera — 

 Elachista and Tischeria. Of the former, there are, according to 

 our author, seventy-two species already described, of which thirty- 

 seven have been detected in Britain. They are for the most part less 

 brilliant in their colouring than the charming little moths of the 

 genus Lithocolletis, whose natural history was given in Mr. Stainton's 

 last volume ; but many of them nevertheless exhibit a delicacy in their 

 markings which renders them beautiful objects, and a few are adorned 

 with metaUic tints. Like all the species hitherto described and figured 

 in the present work, they are leaf-miners in their larva state ; and they 

 appear, singularly enough, to confine their attacks principally to the 

 Grasses and the nearly-allied Cyperacece, only two species being at 

 present known to feed on a plant belonging to another natural order, 

 the Luzula pilosa. The same law would appear to prevail in warmer 

 climates, a species having been reared from the bamboo in Calcutta. 

 The larvae sometimes only attack the parenchyma of the leaves, but 

 in other cases they carry their mines down into the stem, and there 

 is a considerable variety in the form and appearance of the mines. 

 Many of the species produce two broods in the course of the year ; 

 and all of them appear to pass through the winter in the larva state, 

 — some being nearly full-fed at that season, whilst others have but 

 recently emerged from the egg. With the exception of one of the 

 species which feeds on the Luzula^ all the larvae quit their mines 

 when about to undergo their change to the pupa state ; and the pupa 

 is usually attached to the stems of the grasses and sedges, with only 

 a silken belt round its middle. 



The second genus treated of in this volume, Tischeria, only includes 

 five species, of which three have been ascertained to be British, so 

 that the single plate with its accompanying letter-press, which is here 

 devoted to these insects, exhausts the natural history of the known 

 indigenous species of this genus. In their characters they closely 

 resemble the Elachistce ; but their habits present some differences. 

 They are also leaf-miners, but are not confined within such narrow 

 limits in their choice of food as their near allies just noticed ; for, of 

 the five known species, three inhabit trees and shrubs of the order 

 Rosacece, whilst the other two form their mines in the leaves of that 

 perfect world of insects, the oak. The mines of the larvae are de- 

 scribed as being always close to the upper surface of the leaf and 

 beautifully lined with white silk ; the larvae — taking pride, like 

 good housekeepers, in the cleanliness of their dwellings — are par- 

 ticularly careful to allow no grain of dirt to defile the purity of their 

 delicate carpets ; with this view they make a little slit in the upper 

 or lower surface of the leaf, and through this eject their excrement. 

 Unlike the Elachistce, the insect undergoes its further metamorphosis 



