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587. 

 GALLERIA MELLONELLA. 



The Honey-comb Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Crambidae. 



Tyjie of the Genus, Tinea mellonella Linn. 

 Galleria Fab., Haio., Och., Curt. — Tinea Linn., Hub. 



Antenna: shortest in the males, setaceous, pubescent beneath, 

 basal joint a little elongated, clavate and margined with scales 

 beneath (1). 



Maxilla very short, membranous, curved and obtuse, basal half 

 densely clothed with scales (3) ; rather longer in the female. 

 Palpi entirely concealed in the male, short and triarticulate, two 

 first joints small, 3rd large, obcordate, and clothed with long 

 tufted scales (3 a) ; rather more pear-shaped in the female, in 

 which sex they are not quite concealed (7 ? ft). 

 Labial palpi short, rigid, ascending and very much curved in the 

 male (7 J", 4), and bowed externally when viewed in front (7) ; 

 triarticulate, basal joint short and robust in the male (4 ft (J), 

 2nd longer, stout and a little attenuated, 3rd the longest, slen- 

 derer and terminated by 2 closely united claws ; longer, droop- 

 ing and incurved in the female (7 $ , 4), approximating at the 

 base and scarcely divaricating, stout and densely clothed vnth 

 scales, basal joint rather stout, 2nd inflated, longer and ovate, 

 3rd as long as the 1st, somewhat elongate-conic (4 a). 

 Head conical in the male (7 J*), more obtuse in the female, with a dense 

 brush of hairs hanging over the forehead (7 $ ) .- eyes prominent and 

 ovate. Thorax robust, scutellum crested at the apex : Abdomen 

 conical, terminated by a little tuft in the male, and a slender ovipositor 

 in the female. Wings somewhat convoluted in repose, being de- 

 pressed on the back, and compressed at the extremity, rather short 

 and broad in the male, the anterior truncated and emarginate, form- 

 ing a lobe towards the posterior angle ; longer, narroiver and much 

 less emarginate in the female ; cilia short. Legs stout ; tibife, an- 

 terior short with a small internal spine, the others broad at the apex, 

 with a pair of spurs, the hinder with a pair also a little below the 

 middle : tarsi 5-jointed, the basal joint rather stout and elongated in 

 the 4 posterior. 

 Larvae nearly naked, with 6 pectoral, 8 abdominal and 2 anal feet ; 

 forming galleries amongst the comb in Beehives, in which they live. 



Mellonella Linn. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 984. 2, 



Male subochreous ; a long spot on the thorax and tips of the 

 scales round the apex dark brown : superior wings livid, with an 

 interrupted line of tubercles along the middle, grey above, an 

 elongated brown spot on the costa ; inferior margin ochreous, 

 variegated with castaneous, an incurved line of black dots and 

 streaks beyond the middle, terminating in 2 large ones on the 

 inner margin ; inferior wings fuscous palest at the base. Female 

 with the thorax and superior wings purplish brown with less grey 

 along the middle, and all the mai'kings less distinct ; inferior 

 wings ochreous white ; cilia fuscous. 



The genus Galleria was established by Fabricius to charac- 

 terize the Moths livino- in beehives. In the habits and striic- 



