REMARKS ON THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS NEPTICULA. 39 



appears that the larva assumes these spots during: the 

 moulting, that these are on the old skin which it is on the 

 point of casting off, and that in the narrow mine of the larva 

 the old skin is drawn forward for a short distance. 



In real truth I have only observed one moulting, but 1 

 believe that there are at least two. For if we examine a 

 mine attentively, we shall notice, unless the commencement 

 has been covered over by a later portion of the same mine, 

 three different degrees of development. Thus, in a mine of 

 Miijicapitella, we see at the commencement a very fine, con- 

 tinuous, excremental line, hardly pale-margined at the sides ; 

 in the next stage the excremental line is broader and often 

 interrupted, but still it always forms a dense mass, and on 

 each side of it a distinct, though narrow, light space is per- 

 ceptible ; in the third stage the mine expands, the excrement 

 is thinner and more scattered, and only occupies the middle 

 of the mine, leaving a considerable empty space on each 

 side. The same thing seems to occur in all mines, but the 

 proportions are not always easily perceptible. 



With regard to the distribution of the Nepticulce at con- 

 siderable altitudes, I will only remark that on the Upper 

 Harz, at 2,800 feet above the sea, I found in June mines of 

 Weaveri on Vaccinium Vitis Idcea ; and in July I found the 

 mines of a species, still unknown, on Surhus aiicuparia : the 

 pupae of the latter unfortunately all died ; the imago con_ 

 tained in them had a red head and a silvery fascia. In the 

 same place I met with some specimens of a third species, 

 amongst bushes of Vaccinium Myrtillus and V. uUginosuni^ 

 but only caught one specimen in bad condition, which is not 

 Ilyrtillella^ but has considerable resemblance with N. Lap- 

 ponicay of which I have received a worn specimen from 

 Staudinger. 



The descriptions in Stainton's great work, " The Natural 



