ANNETTE F. BRAUN. 343 



the base on the dorsal margin, and very indistinctly angiilated near the costa. 

 At the middle of the wing length is a straight perpendicular fascia. At two- 

 thirds are a pair of opposite silvery streaks, often uniting in the middle of the 

 wing to form a third fascia. Apex overlaid with velvety blackish brown scales, 

 with a few silvery scales before. Cilia reddish brown, shading to gray at the 

 tornus, and with a dark brown line through the middle. Expanse 7-8 mm. 



Hindwingsand cilia blackish brown. Abdomen blackish brown in the female, 

 gray in the male. Legs pale brownish gray, tarsi whitish, shaded with gray 

 toward their bases. 



New York (Beutenmuller collection), Pennsylvania, Ohio and 

 Kentucky. 



The external margining i.s in the males more distinct and of a 

 clearer black than in the females, where it is often dark brown, 

 scarcely darker than the ground color. 



The upperside mines occur on several species of oak : Querciis 

 rubra L., Quercus alba L., Quercus acuminata (Michx.) Sarg. The 

 mine is a rather broad Y-shaped tract, sometimes crossing the mid- 

 rib. The flat, oval, silken cocoon is spun in the leg of the Y. 

 Specimens bred from such mines are in every respect identical with 

 Clemens' type of obstrictella. Dr. Clemens was certainly in error 

 when he described the mine of obstrictella as a mine on the under- 

 side of oak leaves. The imago of this species is typically that of 

 the flat larval group. 



Obstrictella may be distinguished from all other allied eastern 

 species by the character of the l)lack scales which form the apical 

 dusting. These scales are more freely tipped with black than is 

 usual in the case of the scales forming the apical dusting of the flat 

 group, and hence the effect is a large black spot rather than a num- 

 ber of small dots. The silvery scales before the apex are also char- 

 acteristic of the species. 



Chambers' type of bifasciella is identical with Clemens' type of 

 obstrictella ; on one wing the third fascia is nearly complete. 



The specimen from which Lord Walsingham described cerijera' 

 is identical with the series of specimens of obstrictella from the 

 Beutenmuller collection in the U. S. Nat. Mus. All of this series 

 bear the breeding record number 114 (blotch mine on the upperside 

 of red and white oak.s). The type o'i cerifene is the only specimen 

 bearing on the pin the food plant label, '" Myrica cerifera." This is 

 certainly an error. 



TEANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXXIV. OCTOBEE, 1908. 



