NEW BRITISH TINEINA. 99 



series. Dr. Buchanan White has kindly furnished me with 

 the following history of the discovery of these larvae : — 



" A year or two ago I found a larva feeding on moss, and 

 sent it to you thinking it was a Gelechia larva. You how- 

 ever suggested that it was a Scoparia. Finding more of 

 these larvae, I reared some, and found that they were 

 Scoparue. Next spring (1869) I met with them again; 

 knowing that Mr. Buckler had not figured any Scoparia 

 larvae I sent some to him and kept the rest. About July he 

 wrote saying that some small black moths, belonging he 

 thought to the genus Gelechia^ had appeared. A few- 

 days afterwards several appeared in my jam-pots. These I 

 made out to be (as I thought) Gelechia qffinis, and told 

 Mr. Buckler so. 



" Last spring I sent some larvae feeding on moss to Mr. 

 Barrett, as he wished to breed Scoparia muralis. I also sent 

 some moss to Mr. Buckler. 



" Some time in the summer Mr. Barrett wrote to me to 

 ask if I knew w^hat the Gelechia was that he had bred from 

 the moss, as he thought it was different from Geleclda 

 ajffiuis (at any rate from the Southern form of that insect"). 

 I also bred a few specimens this summer. 



" I wrote to Mr. Buckler to see if he had figured the larva, 

 but he had not detected it amongst the moss. 



*' I hope to be able to send you some of these larvae next 

 spring. 



^' The locality is * near Perth, on old walls.' The mosses 

 in which the Scoparia larvae feed (and therefore the Gele- 

 chia larvae also) are Hypnum cupressifolium, H. rutabu- 

 lum, Tortula ruralis, T. intermedia, Grimmia j)ulvi7iataj 

 Bri/mn capillar e and B. ccespititium, but I think that pro- 

 bably any moss growing on eld walls will be equally 

 palatable." 



