126 f^-^""^' 



new species, at the same time remarking tliat althou^li he had given tliem a careful 

 examination, he had failed to find any specific distinction. Of these series, one 

 consists of 18 males, 5 females, and some cases, the other of 22 males, 11 females, 

 and some cases. The first series is labelled, " Millstone grit stones. Brushes, near 

 Manchester ;" the second, " J«con«/>Jci<ei/a, tree boles at Prestwich Wood." Here, 

 then, precisely, are the two forms referred to by Edleston (Intelligencer, vol. v, 

 p. 146) : " Herewith I send for your examination six bred male specimens of -S'. 

 inconspicuella, and a card with females and cuaes, also seven males of my triquetre/la 

 (partly bred), and three females and cases. The cases of inconspicuella are found 

 here on beech trees in Prestwich Wood, and the moths appear early in April, and 

 are most sluggish creatures. The cases of triquetrella are found on large millstone 

 grit stones on the moors (occasionally on stone walls) ; in order to get them it is 

 necessary to turn over these big stones (not a very easy job), as these little rascals 

 prefer the side nearest the ground. These insects appear in the perfect state from 

 May 1st to 20th, and are vertf active on the wing ; and what is very singular in this 

 genus, one rarely gets a female. The female chrysalis is seen projecting from the 

 case, the insect is missing ; what females I possess are chiefly bred ; the anal aper- 

 ture in the female is considerably less woolly than in inconspicuella." 



As Mr. Edleston'e collection ultimately passed, I believe, into the possession of 

 Mr. Joseph Sidcbotham, there can be, I think, little or no doubt that the specimens 

 now before me are actually those with reference to which the above remarks were 

 penned, and their appearance amply confirms the (editorial) remarks of Mr. Stainton 

 at the end of the article of which I have quoted a portion : " On a close scrutiny of 

 the insects sent, and a comparison of Bruand's work, we have come to the conclusion 

 that the triquetrella of that author is in point of fact our Inconspicuella — the tri- 

 quetrella of the Grerman authors being a larger, darker, insect — -and we cannot 

 ourselves distinguish the triquetrella of Mr. Edleston from his inconspicuella, 

 individual specimens of the former differing more from one another than they do 

 from inconsp icuell a ." This last statement is emphatically true. There are two or 

 three specimens in one of the series in which the purplish-grey colouring of the 

 nervures and reticulations is so spread over the fore-wing that the pale spaces are 

 obscured, in one of them quite lost, whereas no such difference exists in the colour 

 or markings of the two series. One important point, touched upon by Edleston, 

 seems to have been ignored by Bruand, and even by Stainton, since nothing is said 

 of it in the " Manual," nor in the " Insecta Britannica, Lepidoptera, Tineina." This 

 is the woolly patch near the termination of the abdomen in the female. This woolly 

 tufting, as will be recollected, is found in the females of the genus Fumea, as a ring 

 at the extremity, and gives them a very curious appearance. In the two series under 

 notice a great uniformity exists in the appearance of a woolly or downy patch — not 

 round the anal segment — but on its under-side, and that of the penultimate segment, 

 and as this patch is of a pure satiny-white, it is readily observed under a lens, and 

 is, in fact, so conspicuous that I cannot understand Edleston's statement that in one 

 series this is considerably less woolly than in the other ! To me they appear iden- 

 tical. The same patch is visible in my own series of ? inconspicuella ; and so far as 

 the evidence at present goes, I think that Mr. Sidebotham is justified in the opinion 

 that all the specimens of these two series belong to one species — our inconspicuella. 

 In all these females the ovipositor is much protruded, the third telescopic joint being 



