OOO [October, 



spilotella, of whose existence I am aware, together with certain British 

 individuals standing as rusticeUa, have proved to be imaverella, Scott, 

 which has a distinct facies, and is a Monojns, having, like rnsficeUa, 

 veins 5 and 6 of the hind-wings stallced. It is evident, therefore, that 

 B. s'pilofeUa, Tgstr., has no claim to a place in the British List, and 

 must be excluded therefrom. Except that its name has appeared for 

 some years in Mr. Clriijith's " exchange list," the only published 

 reference to its occurrence in Britain, that is Icnowni to me, is one by 

 Mr. W. H. B. Fletclier, who, in " The Victoria History' of the county 

 of Sussex," i, 200 (1905), enters " Scardia spilntella, Tengstrom," in 

 error for Monopis weaverella, Scott, and states that it is apparently 

 not uncommon in Abbots Wood. 



To prevent further confusion, a few notes on B. spilotella, before 

 we dismiss it, may be of use. Rebel [Stgr. and Rbl., Cat., ii, p. 236, 

 No. 4537 (1901)], who gives it as occurring in Lapland, Finland, 

 and Labrador, erroneously enters it as a variety of M. rusticeUa, Hb., 

 with which, as already stated, it is not even congeneric. It agrees 

 with M. rvMicella in size, both, however, being decidedly variable in this 

 respect, but its ground-colour is more uniformly darh, being violet- 

 blaclv, and similar to that of M. weaverella. Tlie principal markings 

 on the fore-wing are a white triangidar blotch on the middle of the 

 costa, embracing the hyaline eye-spot, and another white blotch, 

 smaller, if anything, than the costal one, on the outer third of the 

 dorsum, extending to the tornus. These two conspicuous blotches 

 separate B. spilotella, at the first glance, from M. riisticeUa and 

 weaverella, neither of which shows a costal blotch, though 1-oth may 

 exhibit some pale ochreous scales above the eye- spot, and weaverella 

 has a distinct pale ochreoiis tornal blotch. Both Zeller and Stainlon 

 considered B. spilotella fo be a variety of M. rusticeUa. The former 

 possessed thi-ee specimens of it, which are accompanied by his written 

 label, " RusticeUa var. b. spilotella, Tgstr.," while the latter's conti- 

 nental series of rusticeUa consists of nine individuals, of which two, 

 labelled " G-ermany, Staudinger, 12/77," are dark rusticeUa, the 

 remaining seven being all spilotella : six of these bear Stainton's 

 written labels "Norway, Staudinger, 1.82," but the other, which is 

 labelled by him " Becker 4/66," carries also another label, which reads 



SpilotelLa \ " ^^^® Walsingham Collection includes ten speci- 



C j mens of Blabophanes hiliavimacnlella, Clms. ( = 



97 I . J. .' ' \ 



\' insignisella, Wkr.), from North America. This 



•species api)ears to be superficially inseparable from spilotella, but, so 



I 



