230 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



becoming darker towards apex. A velvety dark brown spot at 

 base of costa is surrounded by opalescent purple, which gradually 

 fades into the ground colour. The purplish opalescence is less 

 noticeable in the female. Hind wings brownish brassy. Hind 

 tibiae bright yellow, with upper edge and spines orange-tinged, 

 apex black; hind tarsi blackish above, whorls of spines yellowish. 

 Abdomen concolorous with hind wings at base, dark brown to- 

 ward tip, anal tuft in male yellowish. 



Expanse 8-9 mm. 



Localities. — Cincinnati, O.; Clermont Co., O. 



Type and two paratypes in author's collection. 



This species may be distinguished from E. elyella Busck by 

 the larger basal brown spot, much darker colour, with absence of 

 dorsal light streak, and by the different antennal coloration and 

 structure. 



The larvae feed on the spores of two species of ferns, the 

 narrow-leaved spleenwort (Asplenium angustifoliiim) and the 

 silvery spleenwort (A. acrostichoides) . A web, beneath which the 

 larva feeds, is spun along the underside of the leaflet, often extend- 

 ing for three-fourths its length by the time the larva reaches 

 maturity. When young the larva mines into the sorus, eating 

 out the greater portion of the spores and leaving the indusium 

 hollow. Later the larva becomes too large to mine and consumes 

 the entire sorus, except the annuli of the sporangia, in many places 

 leaving only the ridge along which the indusium was fastened to 

 the leaf, indicating perhaps that this is also consumed in addition 

 to the spores. Near the beginning of the web, and to one side of 

 the midrib, a circular opening leads to the upper side. Protect- 

 ing the opening on the upper side, and broadest and thickest just 

 over the opening, is a tubular web tapering and crossing the mid- 

 rib diagonally. It is somewhat raised at the beginning, but flat- 

 tens toward its narrow end, where there is an opening through 

 which the larva ejects the frass. On the underside of the leaf, 

 the web is also thickest over the circular hole. The web is decor- 

 ated with the innumerable rejected annuli of the sporangia, which 

 cover closely those portions around the circular opening, both on 

 the upper and under surfaces of the leaf, thus affording protection 

 to the larva when not feeding. The larva while feeding is yellowish 



