1885. J 99 



DESCEIPTION OF A NEW GELECHIA FROM OUR SALT-MARSHES : 

 a. TETRAGONELLA. 



BY H. T. STAINTOK, F.R.S. 



Exp. al. 5 lines. Head, face, and palpi pale whitish-grey. Anterior-wings pale 

 grey, more or less suffused with dark grey, sometimes entirely dark grey, with four 

 black dots placed in a lozenge form thus : two on the fold, the first of which is not 

 far from the base, and the second about the middle of the fold ; nearly vertically 

 over this last, but slightly anterior to it, is the third dot situated on the sub-costal 

 nervure ; the fourth dot is placed on the disc in the middle of the wing ; this last 

 dot is frequently followed by a second on the disc, half-way between the last 

 named and the hind-margin of the wing ; at the hind-margin itself are some small 

 dark dots round the apex of the wing ; cilia grey. Posterior-wings grey, with the 

 cilia rather darker. 



This insect differs from G. senectella in the total absence of any 

 ochreous or brownish tiu^e, and is rather neater. Senectella, though 

 it fre'quentlj shows one or two dark spots along the costa, scarcely 

 ever shows us any dark marking on the sub-costal nervure. 



Taken by Mr. Sang amongst Artemisia maritima in salt-marshes 

 near E-edcar, in the month of July. 



Mr. Sang has noticed that these insects sit with the wings closely 

 appressed to the body, and the head well up. It varies very much in 

 shade of colour, and in one specimen there was an indication of a pale 

 hinder fascia, of which most specimens show no trace. 



Mr. Sang writes to me that :— " This species appears to be very 

 sluggish, as I have not seen it on the wing. All I have taken have been 

 by searching among the tufts of Artemisia maritima, v:\ik\i are very short 

 and poor, where the insect only seems to occur— nearest to the sea in 

 the estuary of the Tees. I hardly suspect that the larva will feed on 

 that plant, as most likely the moths only frequent it for shelter. It 

 is the only plant above the very short grass. The moth is sluggish in 

 the net, even at dusk, and looks— when alive— exceedingly narrow 

 at the head end, from the very narrow thorax, and from the wings being 

 so closely appressed for two-thirds of their length. The wings have 

 the appearance of being greasy along the dorsal margin when closed, 

 owing to that part being without any lighter scales. This is the first 

 occurrence of the insect since 1881, when I took three examples." 



Mountsfield, Lewisham, S.E. : 

 September Ibth, 1885. 



Ch<Brocampa celerio in Staffordshire. -On the 12th inst. I caught at Colton, 

 Staffordshire, a fine specimen of C. celerio.-W. Buckley, 27, Wheeler's Road, 

 Edgbaston : September 2i0th, 1885. j 2 



