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ON THE STEANQE COLEOPHORA EEPUTED TO FEED ON 

 WHEAT IN EUSSIA. 



BT H. T. STAINTOK, F.R.8. 



Some months ago I was sorely puzzled by being told that a new 

 Coleophora had been lately described by Professor Lindeman as feed- 

 ing on wheat, and that specimens had been submitted to me for my 

 opinion some time previously. 



I often now-a-days complain of the tricks my memory plays me, 

 but as I could remember nothing of this mysterious chapter of Coleo- 

 phora life, I sought to find some letter from Professor Lindeman 

 amongst my foreign letters. Further, I have a habit of entering day 

 by day in a little book the names of the writers of any Entomological 

 letters I receive, and in the case of Foreign Entomologists, I also 

 enter the dates when I write to them. On neither side of the entries 

 in this book did the name of Professor Lindeman occur, nor could I 

 find any letter from him had ever reached me ! 



It was some weeks before this mysterious occurrence was cleared 

 up, though like many other mysteries, when the explanation did come 

 it was simple enough. The fact was I had had no direct communica- 

 tion with Professor Lindeman at all. He had communicated with the 

 " Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou," that Society had put 

 itself in communication with the Entomological Society of France ; 

 the problem for solution on reaching Paris fell into the hands of my 

 friend Monsieur Eagonot, and he, writing to me soon afterwards, pro- 

 pounded the question to me, " Here are certain Coleophora cases ; what 

 species do they produce?" 



The name of Professor Lindeman did not occur in the query which 

 '\ I received, nor was any mention made of loheat. I was simply in- 

 formed that the Society of Moscow had sent these cases to the French 

 Entomological Society, with the notice that great quantities of them 

 had been found on the stems of grasses in Southern Russia. Was it 

 wonderful, then, that I had no recollection of Professor Lindeman and 

 his Coleophora on wheat? 



Monsieur Eagonot, who is himself a very high authority in all 

 matters relating to Micro-Lepidoptera, remarked, in his letter of No- 

 vember 20th, 1880, " These cases remind me of those of the species 

 attached to the Caryophyllacece, such as silenella, dianthi, nutantella, 

 &c., and it is possible that such a species peculiar to Southern Eussia, 

 after having fed on a low plant, would leave it and mount up the stems 

 of grasses." (See Annales de la Soc. Ent. de France, 1881, Bull. xiv). 



