August, 1906.] 269 



BLASTOTERE OLABRATELLA, Zblleu; 

 A SPECIES TAKEN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ENGLAND. 



BY THE RT. HON. LORD WALSINGHAM, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



Being almost continually occupied in working out exotic collections 

 I seldom take out a net during rather spasmodic visits to Norfolk; 

 it was, therefore, by a very remarkable stroke of luck that on June 

 19th I took two dozen good specimens of Blastoteo^e glabratella, 

 Zeller, from an old spruce-fir hedge in my kitchen garden here. 



Had I not fortunately seen one sitting on the end of a branch 

 and immediately recognised it as an Argyresthia, it might excusably 

 have been passed over when on the wing for Ocnerostoma piniariella, 

 which abounds among Scotch fir not very far from the same spot. I 

 took it at first for B. illuminatella, lately added to our lists on the 

 strength of a specimen shown to me last year by Mr. Meyrick, and 

 consequently worked steadily for more than an hour to make up a 

 series. 



On further examination and careful comparison it was found to 

 agree with Zeller's glahratella. The type itself is small and broken, 

 but one other also labelled by himself is very certainly the same as 

 my series, and a set in Hofmann's cabinet is precisely similar and 

 rightly named. The original description is in the Linnsea Entomolo- 

 gica, vol. II, pp. 293, 4 (1847), and was made from 1 ^ and 2 $ ? , of 

 which I am able to find one only in Zeller's cabinet, the others 

 having been added at a later date. The steely whitish grey, not 

 brassy yellowish or chalky yellowish, fore-wings distinguish it from 

 B. illuminatella and other near allies ; the yellowish head and annu- 

 lated antennae with pale yellowish basal joint are also noticeable. 



The three latest additions to the British list in this genus suc- 

 ceeding each other somewhat rapidly are closely allied, and all asso- 

 ciated with conifers. I have bred B. atmoriella from Pinus larix ; B. 

 glahratella is recorded as feeding in twigs of Pinus ahies [Hrtm. MT. 

 Miinch. Ent. Ver., IV, 7, No. 1611 (1880)] ; and B. illuminatella is 

 said to feed on several species, which suggests the possihility of some 

 confusion. 



The genus Blastotere, proposed by Katzeburg in 1840, would 

 include Meyrick's Section A of Argyresthia, " Fore-wings with 7 and 

 8 stalked" [HB. Br. Lp,, 703 (1895)], for which reason the use of 

 this generic name is advocated. 



In Staudinger and Kebel's Catalog, 1901, 136, No. 2430, I am 

 quoted as having confused Argyresthia illuminatella, Z., with A. atmo- 



