COLEOPHORA TINCTORIELLA. 227 



are indebted for this addition to the genus), tells me that in the 

 locality in which he finds tinctoriella he has searched well, but 

 unsuccessfully, for saturatella, although the broom grows there 

 in abundance. He also tried to feed his tinctoriella upon broom, 

 but they would not touch it. 



When last year Mr. Vine sent me tinctoriella to name as 

 doubtfully saturatella, I replied that I believed it to be identical 

 with the continental hilineatella, Zell., which also feeds upon 

 Genista tinctoria, but upon looking further into the subject this 

 conjecture became more and more improbable. Now hilineatella, 

 Zell., seems shrouded in mystery. Zeller says (' Linnsea Ento- 

 mologica,' Bd. iv., 272) — "The discoidal line is entirely absent." 

 C. tinctoriella shows this line clearly, which, had Zeller's description 

 of hilineatella been accurate, would have sufficed to separate the 

 two species. But specimens of hilineatella, Zell., in the British 

 Museum and others I have seen in Mr. Stainton's collection show 

 this line, the existence of which Zeller denies. Herrich-Schaffer 

 (' Systematisches Bearbeitung,' v., No. 686, p. 239, fig. 690) 

 figures hilineatella with a discoidal line. Furthermore, upon 

 Zeller's (Lord Walsingham's) own specimens this discoidal line 

 is to be traced, which is therefore of no use as a distinguishing 

 character for hilineatella, Zell. Again, under this name two very 

 different insects are met with. In Mr. Stainton's collection, bred 

 from continental larvse in England, is a series of hilineatella, 

 some of the specimens being very dark brown, like saturatella, 

 and others bright ochreous, like the ordinary continental type of 

 the species. The cases from which the insects were bred are also 

 of two kinds, the one dark brown, as in saturatella, the other pale 

 brown, as in tinctoriella. Heinemann says (and it is generally 

 known) that this so-called hilineatella, Zell., feeds upon broom as 

 well as Genista tinctoria, and it at once occurred to me that in all 

 probability there were two distinct species, one from broom, the 

 other from Genista tinctoria, united under the name of hilinea- 

 tella ; and it seemed highly probable that the ochreous insects 

 came from the pale Genista cases, whilst the dark broom cases 

 produced the darker insect. Accordingly I wrote to my friend, 

 Herr August Hoffmann, of Hanover, for assistance, which he 

 most readily afforded. In his own collection were two brown 

 specimens bred from Sarothamnus scoparius, with dark brown 

 cases. He next examined the cabinet of Herr Glitz, in which 



