April, 5 IO] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 173 



the hindwings, shining gray behind. Underside and legs shining gray, 

 faintly tinged with brown. Expanse, 5.5-5.8 mm. 



Described from six bred specimens, Dutch Flat, Placer Co., 

 Cal. I have, however, been unable thus far to identify the food 

 plant, which is a shrub with lanceolate yellowish green leaves, 

 densely tomentous beneath. The mine, which is semi-trans- 

 parent, is a tortuous tract on the upper side of the leaf, with 

 the frass deposited in separate grains throughout its entire 

 breadth. The end of the mine, which is free from frass, is 

 whitish and almost transparent. Cocoon ovoid, not at all 

 flattened, and pale yellowish in color. Mines collected in the 

 early part of March produced imagoes during May. 



Types in my collection. 



Nepticula variella n. sp. 



Palpi yellow gray; tuft yellowish orange; antennae dark gray, eye- 

 caps pale yellow. Thorax dark fuscous. Ground color of the forewings 

 sordid yellowish white, which is in most specimens almost entirely 

 overlaid with fuscous scales, leaving only the apex of the wing and a 

 more or less distinct fascia at the apical third of the pale yellow color. 

 This is the case in about four-fifths of the specimens ; in the others, the 

 dusting of the basal two-thirds of the wing varies, in some cases be- 

 ing merely less dense, in others lacking toward the costal or dorsal 

 margins, and in a single specimen entirely lacking, except for a few 

 scattered scales. Cilia fuscous sometimes yellow around the apex. 

 Hindwings gray, with their basal half in the male overlaid with pur- 

 plish black scales. Dorsal side of the abdomen blackish, lower side and 

 legs yellowish gray. Expanse, 5.5-7.5 mm. 



Twenty-one specimens bred from winding mines on the up- 

 per side of Qnercus agri folia Nee., Mills College, Alameda 

 County, Cal., and one specimen on a deciduous oak from the 

 same locality. The mines on the latter are somewhat longer 

 than on the thicker leaved evergreen oak. The yellowish co- 

 coon is ovoid, not flattened, and slightly broader toward its 

 anterior end. Mines received in January produced imagoes in 

 the latter part of February and in March. 



This species exhibits a considerably wider range of variation 

 than is usual in the genus. 



Type in my collection ; paratypes in the California Academy 

 of Sciences and in Mr. W. D. Kearfott's collection. 



