THE 



i^ VOLUME XIII. ^y/^ 



0^^ A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS ZELLERIA. 

 BY H. T. STAINTOX, F.R.S. 



Since tlie 29th Xovember, 1873, wheu Mr. Barrett brouglit to 

 me for determination a Zelleria from Paisley, wliicli I could not re- 

 cognise, I have had this insect on my mind. 



That which has so long perplexed me, ought now to take its turn 

 in puzzling others, and I therefore here give to the world all that I 

 know on the subject. 



On the 9th December, 1875, I made the following entry : 

 Zelleeia fusca, n. sp. Exp. al. 6-7 lines. 



Having seen simultaneously eleven specimens, nine of which I 

 return this day to Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, I may thus describe it : 



Allied to Z. msignipennella, but wants the rich reddish-ochreous 

 tint of that species ; variable in colour from greyish-ochreous to dark 

 fuscous : sometimes with a dark spot on the fold beyond the middle. 



Tuft of the head ochreous or fuscous. 



It will be seen from the above, that its characters are rather 

 negative than positive ; and, when one reflects that some Entomologists 

 to this day doubt whether Z. visignijjenneAla be specifically distinct 

 from Z. hepariella (through tlie kindness of Mr. Sang, of Darlington, 

 I have in my collection a pair take^i in cop. at Castle Eden Dene, 

 September 27th 1866, of which the ^ appears to be Z. heparieJla, and 

 the ? Z. insignipennella) , one feels one is treading on very uncertain 

 ground — since colouring only, as distinctive of a species with a high 

 Northern range, we know from many analogous cases to be a veritable 

 ignis fatuus. 



I will now endeavour to supply, as far as I can, from the letters 

 before me, a history of the known specimens of this new species of 

 Zelleria. 



NE, l')';6. 



