479. 



GRACILLARIA ANASTOMOSIS. 



The Lilac slender Moth. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Tineidae. 



Type of the Genus, Gracillaria anastomosis Haw. 



Gracillaria Haw., Curt. — Ornix Och., Treit. — Tinea Hub. 



Antennee inserted close to the eyes, capillary, nearly as long as 

 the wings, and bent back beneath them when in repose, com- 

 posed of numerous minute joints, the basal one rather stout. 

 Maxilla spiral, slender and twice as long as the labial palpi 

 (7*, 3). Palpi distinct (7a), slender and clothed with short 

 scales forming a tuft at the apex, triarticulate, basal joint short 

 ovate, 2nd twice as long, 3rd a little longer and curved (3a, the 

 Palpus and a portion of the maxilla). 



Labial Palpi projecting far beyond the head, recurved, slender, 



tapering and acute, clothed with short scales (4) ; triarticulate, 



basal joint the shortest, clavate, 2nd twice as long, curved and 



subclavate, 3rd longer and subulate (4a). 



Head small subglobose, clothed with depressed shining scales combed 



over the croion from each side: eyes globose and lateral. Thorax 



small. Abdomen short and slender, terminated by a lobe in the 



males, with a tuft of hair on each side. Wings, superior tioice as 



long as the abdomen, elliptical, loith very long cilia at the posterior 



angle; inferior wings shorter and lanceolate, furnished with very 



long cilia. Legs ; anterior the shortest, posterior the longest: thighs 



short, especially the posterior : tibise ; anterior with an internal spine, 



intermediate spurred at the apex and densely clothed tvith long broad 



scales ; posterior with a pair of spurs towards the base, and another 



pair at the apex, one of them very long : tarsi 5-jointed : claws very 



minute (Sf, hind leg). 



Larvae with 6 pectoral, 6 abdominal and 2 anal feet ; clothed with a 



feiv long hairs. 

 Pupse subfusiform. 



Anastomosis Haw. Lep. Brit. 5S0. 13. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 1038. 3. 

 Fuscous : antennae dotted with white : head ochreous, palpi 

 annulated with the same colour : thorax ochreous freckled with 

 brown : abdomen cinereous, apex ochreous ; superior wings 

 orange, sometimes with a purple cupreous tinge, freckled with 

 brown, 5 cream-coloured subtrigonate spots on the costa and 

 about the same number on the interior margin with which some 

 of them are occasionally united, the apical one forming a ring, 

 sometimes with a blackish pupil : inferior wings cinereous as 

 well as the fringe, which in the superior wings is variegated a 

 little with white. Legs whitish, the thighs and tibiae variegated 

 with black, and the tips of the joints in the tarsi of the same 

 colour. 



In the Author's and other Cabinets. 



Gracillaria is distinguished by the singularly tufted inter- 

 mediate tibia;, and the attitude in which the moth rests is very 

 striking; this is represented in the outline figure of the natural 



