October, 1910.1 221 



MONOPIS WEAVERELLA, Scott (n. syn. = SEMISPILOTELLA, Strand), 

 SPECIFICALLY DISTINCT FEOM M. RUSTICELLA, Hb. 



BY EUSTACE R. BANKES, M.A., F.E.S. 

 Plate V. 



In the " Zoologist," 1858, pp. 6964-5965, the late Mr. John Scott 

 brought forward as a new species a Scottish " Tinea " very closely 

 allied to rusticeUa,'H.h.,sa,jmg that he had gradually formed the decided 

 opinion that it was specifically distinct from the latter species, and 

 bestowing upon it the name weaverelJa. He added that, in Ins. Brit., 

 Lep. Tin., p. 27 (1854), Stainton had alluded to weaverella with a 

 query as to whether it was a variety of rusticella* Although Scott's 

 arguments, which were based upon differences of facies, habit, 

 habitat, &c., were, so far as I am aware, not controverted, they failed, 

 nevertheless, to secure for vjeaverella a place in the standard works, or 

 catalogues, dealing with the British Lejndoptera, and even the name 

 itself appears to have been completely ignored by the synonymists. 



Some years ago the name spilotella appeared, in the genus Tinea, 

 in a printed "exchange list" of British Lepidoptera compiled by Mr. 

 A. r. G-riffith. of Brighton, and, on inquiry, I was informed that some 

 specimens taken by him in Scotland had been reliably identified as 

 spiloteUa, Tgstr. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, this 

 determination was accepted by the few of us who were especially 

 interested in the matter, and individuals so labelled are consequently 

 to be found in certain British collections. In September, 1907, how- 

 ever, Lord Walsingham privately questioned my identification of a 

 Scottish Tineid.t taken by Canon Cruttwell at Aviemore that season, 

 as " Monojns spiloteUa, Tgstr." He informed me that Blabophanes 

 spilotella, Tgstr., differs from Monopis rusticella, Hb., in having veins 

 5 and 6 of the hind- wings separate instead of stalked, and suggested 

 that the individual in question (which he had not seen) would 

 probably be foimd to have veins 6 and 6 of the hind-wings stalked, 

 which would refer it to " Monopis rusticella, Hb., + weaverella, Scott 

 (Zool. 1858, 596S-4—var., an sp.?)r This information, and the 

 citation of Scott's paper, which was previously unknown to me, led me 

 to investigate the matter, and to collect for comparison as much 

 material as possible, with the resiilt th3,t all the British reputed 



* stainton (I.e.) concludes his notice of rusticella, Hb., with the following>oids : " Mr. Weaver 

 has taken several specimens of a variety (?) with an ochreous spot at the anal angle running into 

 the cilia ; these he found in fir- woods, Perthshire." — E. R. B. 



t This was omitted from the list of Canon Cruttwell's Aviemore captures, published in Bnt. 

 Mo. Mag., ser. 2, xviii, 2.5T (1907), because its identity was then under discussion.— B. R. B. 



T 



