304 LLOYD S NATURAL HLSTORY. 



near the shoulders. The hind-wings are blackish with silvery 

 margins. 



The eggs of this moth are laid on the bark of Casmirina, 

 where a branch is given off, and the white red-spotted larva, as 

 soon as it emerges, bores its way into the bark, and makes a 

 cylindrical passage to the centre of the stem, where it lives, 

 weaving over the entrance a convex cover formed of ends of 

 leaves, and its own excrement. This cover is securely attached 

 at its upper part, the lower end remaining movable, so that the 

 larva can pass in and out. After sunset it goes in search oi 

 food, which it conveys, a leaf at a time, to its dwelling, and 

 drags down into the cylindrical passage. In this manner the 

 larva spends the whole of the night, and towards daybreak 

 retires quickly to its retreat, where it lies hidden with its head 

 towards the entrance, feeding on the stored leaves. In this 

 p\assage the pupa is formed in January without a cocoon, and 

 the moth appears in about a fortnight, in February. 



GENUS HARPELLA. {GclccJlUdiV^ 



Harpella, Schrank, P\iuna Boica, ii. (2), p. 168 (1802); 



Zeller, Isis, 1839, p. 191 ; Stainton, Ins. Brit. Tineina, 



p. 151 (1854); Von Heinemann, Schmett. Deutschl. (2), 



ii. p. 371 (1870). 

 Alaho7iia, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 418 (1826?); 



Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. Haust. iv. p. 226 (1834). 



The largest family of the Micro- Lepidoptera is that of the 

 Gelechiidcz, to which the present genus belongs. Harpelhx 

 includes one or two conspicuous species of bright colours, and 

 of large size for Tinece. In Harpella, the palpi are very long, 

 compressed, the second joint scaly, and the terminal joint 

 slender, pointed, and obliquely raised. The wings are oval, 

 rather broad, and rounded at the tips, with moderately long 



