110 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



The nomenclature adopted has been, as far as it could be made available 

 namely, to the end of the Tortrices that of H. Doubleday, the same employed 

 by Mr. Greene ; in the larger group of Tineina, I follow Mr. Stainton, the latest 

 authority on that portion, and I also adopt his names for the Crambidse, those 

 luckless " snouts" that have been tossed to and fro from one group to another, as 

 alike anomalous, perplexing, and uninteresting to all nomenclators and compilers 

 of systematic divisions. 



Common and unattractive as some of the Crambidae undoubtedly are, others 

 of them rejoice in varied and beautiful markings, while the broad silvery streaks 

 that adorn some of the rarer species ought quite to inspire admiration enough to 

 redeem them from the strange dislike into which their anomalous position with 

 respect to the other moths has brought them into. 



In a very few instances, when very recent discoveries have broken into the last 

 arrangements, I have been compelled to deviate from prescribed authority ; how- 

 ever, no mistake can arise as to these, since I have appended to any dubious 

 names those of the authors from whom they are taken. 



All objections to the study which may be raised from the minuteness of the 

 objects, should, I think, be at once silenced by a consideration of the mighty in- 

 fluences that have at all times affected the world from the agency of small and 

 overlooked creatures ; it is the weak and fragile things that have been chosen to 

 confound the powerful, and this has been done to teach us that we should not 

 glory in His presence who created them. Nor can the effects produced by the 

 micros be easily passed by without the eye meeting, though it may not willingly 

 observe them ; the tortuous mines in the leaves of so many plants, strangely varied 

 in form, and yet, at times, seemingly symmetrical the drooping shoot, whose 

 internal parts are slowly devoured by the fattening larva the tenderly-united 

 leaves of the sallow and the rose the cankered bud that blights the cherished 

 hopes of the anxious florist the decaying forms which startle the eye of the ento- 

 mologist whose attention to his perishable collections has been turned away for a 

 period of unwonted length all bear a testimony that will not, cannot, be set 

 aside. 



One of the greatest points of attraction to the study of the Tineina, says Mr. 

 Stainton, is afforded by the endless variety in the habits of the species ; this his 

 own books abundantly demonstrate ; and not less do they point out the rich field of 

 discovery that lies open to future investigators. 



But other difficulties will occur to the minds of those who are willing and de- 

 sirous to take up the study ; they will naturally anticipate great trouble both in the 

 identification and in the manipulation (capturing, setting, &c.) of micros. Now, 

 in regard to the former, I gladly quote our best authority on the subject, Mr. 

 Stainton, who says " It has been the remark of every writer, that the smaller the 

 species, the more splendid the colouring, and the more sharply -defined the 

 markings ; it is precisely amongst the smallest species that we find the characters 

 of the families most strongly defined ; and, whereas among the larger species it is 

 extremely difficult to arrange them in families with good distinctive characters, in 

 the smaller species no such difficulty exists." In regard to the second obstacle, 

 though the micros undoubtedly need delicacy of touch and steadiness of hand, yet 

 the little experience I have myself had convinces me that the danger of injury is 

 not nearly so great as one might suppose, and that, in most instances, it is much 

 easier to set their wings than those of the macros. The list is as follows : 



TORTRICES. 



Halias prasinana. Wicklow, &c. 



quercana (7). Ditto. Tardy 's list ; but introduced, I suspect, by some 



confusion, for Phibalocera quercana. 



Tortrix pyrastrana. Dublin, &c. Pupae in leaves of apricots, &c., at end of May. 

 xylosteana. Do. 



rosana. Do. Pupae in rose leaves, at end of May. 

 heparana. Mr. Clear. 

 ribeana. Belfast. 

 unifasciana. Mr. Haliday's list. 



