188 
NORTH AMERICAN NEPTICULIDAE 
Localities . — Pennsylvania (Clemens); Kentucky (Chambers); 
Washington, District of Columbia (Busck); Ohio. 
The mines (Fig. 28) are abundant on leaves of sycamore 
(Platanus occidentalis) and begin as slender linear tracks usually 
filled with frass. Several days before pupation the mine is 
abruptly enlarged into a large usually almost circular blotch, 
which often covers the linear portion of the mine. Larva pale 
green; cocoon ochraceous. 
There are three generations of larvae, the earliest to be found 
during June. 
There is considerable variation in size of the white spots and 
it is but rarely that they form a fascia. Females may be dis- 
tinguished from specimens of N . clemensella by the larger size, 
males from that and all other species except N. sirnileUa, by the 
peculiar chitinous plate along the costa of the hind wings. 
39. Xepticula clemenseila Chambers 
Xepiiculn clemensella Chambers, Can. Ent., v, 12.5, 1873; Dyar’s No. 6191. 
Tuft ochraceous; eye-caps silvery white. Fore wings bluish black. Anar- 
row oblique silvery streak on the middle of the costa (rarely inconspicuous) 
and an o])posite dorsal streak, usually meeting in the male to form a narrow 
oblique fascia. Cilia silvery with a Ijrown line formed by the dark tips of the 
terminal row of scales around the apex. Hind wings yellowish fuscous, similar 
in the se.xes. Legs and al)domen fuscous above; anal tuft yellow in the male. 
Expanse. — 4.5 to 5.2 mm. 
Localities . — Pennsjdvania (Clemens); Kentucky (Chambers); 
Plummer’s Island, IMaryland (Busck); (3hio. 
The larva mines leaves of sycamore {Platanus occidentalis), 
forming a linear mine gradually increasing in breadth, with its 
terminal portion expanded into a small blotch three or four times 
the diameter of the end of the linear mine (Fig. 29). Larva pale 
green; cocoon ochraceous. There are three generations a year. 
This species is much less common than Ah plataneUa and uni- 
formly smaller, the largest specimens scarcely attaining the 
expanse of the smallest N. plataneUa. 
40. Nepticula similella new species 
Tuft ocherous to ochraceous; eye-caps silvery white, (occasionally tinged 
with ocher. Thorax and fore wings deep bluish black, the extreme bases of 
the scales more or less iridescent blue, especially in the apical half of the wing. 
At the middle of the wing an oblique narrow' costal streak, shining white but 
