2o2 [Apiii. 



Entomologist's Annual for 1855, I announced I had bred " Gdecliiit. 

 instaWella from larvae mining the leaves of Atriplex portulacoides.'" 



So far, I believe, only one species had really been under con- 

 sideration, but in the Entomologist's Annual for 1856, p. 52, we ai-e 

 informed that " Mr. Shield bred this insect" \_inst(ihilella] " from larvae 

 found early in April, near Dublin, mining the leaves of Plantago 

 maritima" and I am now of opinion that this Plant nrjo-ieed^ev is a 

 distinct species. 



Unfortunately, I seem to have looked upon these specimens from 

 Plantago maritima as so essentially representing instahilella, that I 

 insensibly modified my idea of that species, and when, in May, 1858, 

 Mr. Thomas Boyd sent me some Gelechice from Cornwall, of which he 

 had found the larvse in the flower-heads of Beta maritima, I described 

 them as a new species, under the name of ocellafella. My impression 

 now is, that these were nothing but Gelecliia instahilella, as described 

 by Douglas, from specimeiis on the Essex coast. 



The insect, in accordance with its name, varies exceedingly in 

 colour, from ochreous to grey, and varies nearly as much in its markings, 

 the black spots, which are generally present, sometimes disappearing 

 altogether. In the spriug of last year I had, through the kindness of 

 Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, an opportunity of breeding a considerable 

 number of specimens, Mr. Fletcher having found the larvse in some 

 plenty in Shoreham Harbour, Sussex, mining the leaves of Atriplex 

 portulacoides. As late as last November I was consulted by Mr. 

 Harwood, of Colchester, as to some Geleclii(S he had bred from Suceda 

 fruticosa, and I then referred them to ocellatella, and pointed out 

 wherein they differed, as I said, from " the true instahilella ;" I now 

 hold the opinion that these specimens from Suceda fruticosa were 

 themselves the true instahilella, of which the name ocellatella must 

 now sink as a synonym. 



The unfortunate insect, which has for years been my idea of 

 instahilella, and which Mr. Threlfall breeds from the roots of Plantago 

 maritima, now finds itself nameless ! I believe it has not been observed 

 to feed on any other plant. Mr. Shield bred it from the leaves (and 

 I have a figure of Mr. Wing's representing a plant of the Plantago 

 maritima with a leaf mmeA), but Mr. Threlfall assures me that he only 

 breeds it from the root (see Ent. Mo. Mag., xv, p. 89). 



"On May 13th, 1877, 1 collected roots of sea-plantain on the banks 

 of the river Wyre, for larvae of Gelecliia instahilella, which mine in 

 the roots, and as far as present observation goes not in the leaf or stem. 

 From these emerged about a dozen images of G. instahilella in July." 



