136 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



In repose gleditschiceella sits very flat upon the surface on which it 

 rests. The $ has the last joint of the abdomen long and conical, and 

 the antennae do not quite reach to its apex, while in the $ they exactly 

 reach it. The basal joint of the antennae is rather elongate and suddenly 

 clavate, and the stalk is slender and smooth. It seems to walk badly and 

 probably is nocturnal in its habits. It dodges rather clumsily about among 

 the thorns of Gleditschia triacanthos. or from a hiding place under one 

 piece of the scaly bark to another, and the larva mines the thorns of the 

 Gleditschia. 



My attention was first attracted to it by observing numerous empty 

 pupa cases projecting from the large thorns, sometimes two or three from 

 a single thorn, in the latter part of May. As Gelechia (Helice) palid- 

 ochrella Chamb. was swarming around the trunks of the Gleditschia trees 

 at the same time, I had little doubt that it was the thorn burrower ; how- 

 ever, to make it certain, I gathered some of the thorns, and from them, to 

 my surprise, bred a single specimen of gleditschiceclla, a " micro " that I 

 had never before seen, though I had captured multitudes of " micros " from 

 the trunks of the same trees. Since then I have taken several specimens 

 by frightening them from their hiding places among the bunches of thorns. 

 I am, however, fully convinced that palidochrella also feeds in some way 

 on Gleditschia, and I think that Philonome Staintoiiella Chamb. most 

 probably does also, and likewise Semele bifasciella Chamb. If the latter 

 does not feed on Gleditschia. it probably does on Elm. 



L. gleditschiceella is dark glossy bronzy brown, tinged also with green 

 in ordinary lights, appearing when the light falls on it golden bronze, in 

 other lights showing purple or even bluish reflections. The anal tuft and 

 rather elongate hairs of the posterior tibiae fulvous in the £, but darker 

 in the $ . Al. ex. y 2 inch. Kentucky. 



An old or worn specimen is a very plain and unattractive insect, but 

 a perfectly fresh specimen is a very fine and handsome one, notwithstand- 

 ing that it is so nearly unicolorous ; its perfect smoothness and gloss, fine 

 scales, elongate wings and ciliae, and rich greenish brown, bronze and 

 purple hues with the changes of light, make it a very handsome species. 



The thorns of the Gleditschia, after being hollowed out by this larva, 

 are frequently occupied by a smairspecies of. Ant. 



When the account of this species was first prepared the larva was 

 unknown, and until this spring ( 1 <S 7 6 ) I have had no opportunity of 

 investigating its habits. I have found the brvae of two species feeding 



