DEPKESSARIA PUTRIDELLA, SCHIFF. 255 



These two spots lie in a streak of the pale ochreous ground colour. In 

 D. putridella these spots usually lie in a dark cloud, and the second 

 discal spot is large and conspicuous, with a white centre, while between 

 these two spots there is nearly always a black dash. Z). umbellana has 

 a very dark line on the extreme inner margin of the forcwings. This 

 line is absent in D. putriddla. The hindwings of the former are paler, 

 and the fringes, especially round the apex, are ochreous. The latter 

 has grey fringes on the hindwings. 



Comparison of Depressaria puTRmELLA, Schiff., with D. yeatiana, 

 Fab. — Of all the British Depressariids, D. yeatiana, though much larger 

 and of a different ground colour, comes nearest in its markings to the 

 lighter forms of D. putridella. This is more noticeable in those specimens 

 of the former which have the veins very strongly marked on the fore- 

 wings. D. yeatiana expands from 18mm.-26mm., and the ground 

 colour is pale greyish-ochreous, with a slight admixture of rose-colour 

 ■which gives the wing a ^varm tint, quite different from the ochi'eous- 

 brown of D. putridella. Whatever the depth of colour on the forewings 

 of the former, it is always spread evenly over the whole wing, while, in 

 the lighter examples of the latter, there is a dark central cloud running 

 from the base towards the apex. The twin black spots, not far from 

 the base, are prese'nt in both species, as is also the second discal spot, 

 which is white, with a more or less complete black border. Obliquely 

 above the white spot in the former, lies a large round cloudy spot, 

 which is naturally better defined in the darker-marked examples. This 

 cloudy spot is wanting in the latter, which, on the other hand, has a 

 small black spot between, and in a line Avith, the white spot and the 

 lower of the twin spots. The effect is that the four spots in D. 

 yeatiana appear as two pairs placed obliquely across the wing, one after 

 the other, while in L). putridella three spots run in a line, while a 

 fourth at the commencement lies slightly above the line. These two 

 species are also easily separated by the colour of the hindwings and 

 fringes. In D. yeatiana the hindwings are pale grey, with a more or 

 less ochreous tinge, and the fringes of the hindwings are much paler 

 grey, with a yellow-ochreous, or sometimes bro-wnish-ochreous, tint. 

 The hindwings of D. pntridella are quite dark grey, and the fringes 

 dark grey or dark brownish-grey. Occasionally in the 2 s, the fringes 

 have an ochreous-brown tint, which, however, is different from that 

 sometimes occurring in the other species. 



Comparison of D. putridella, Schiff., with other allied species. 

 — Among the Palfearctic species, Depreasaria mon(jolicella, Chr., comes 

 very close indeed to I), putridella. It is a Siberian species from the 

 Amur, and Christoph, its describer, says {Bull. Soc. Imp. de Nat. de 

 2I0SC0U, 1882, p. 15): "It differs from D. putridella in its uniform 

 reddish-grey colour, in the veins being darkly marked only on the 

 outer portion of the forewing, and the marks on those on the costa, 

 running into the fringe which is pale reddish-grey, in the hindwings 

 being shining pale yellowish-grey, and the antennae reddish-brown." 

 Snellen also describes this species under the name of D. septicella 

 {Tijdschrift, 1884, p. 162, pi. viii., fig. 8). He says : " This small 

 Depressaria is evidently a relation of putridella, though the colour is 

 different, etc. Finally, the very sharp black streaks on the veins of 

 the last third of the wing and the light fringes, make septicella very 

 recognisable." The figure accompanying Snellen's paper illustrates 



