170 THE GENERA OF BRITISH MOTHS. 
Aiesychia Funcrella (the Funereal Ermine, No. 4). This species once thought extremely rare is now known 
to oceur abundantly in some localities. The Caterpillar is lemon colour spotted with orange on the back, and 
having a pale black or purplish dorsal line. It is found in August, and the perfect Moth appears in the following 
June. It was originally only taken by Captain Blomer, at Clifton near Bristol, but it has since been taken at 
Richmond in Yorkshire, and several other places, and plentifully at Cambridge. 
The other species are A. pusiella, A. bipunctella, and A. decemguttella. Of these the last is the most rare. 
It is beaten from Fir trees in Birch and Combe Woods, and also at Darenth, but it remains very rare. It may at 
once be distinguished by the eleven rather large and elongated black spots of the fore-wings, which at once 
distinguish it from its congeners, and from the common Ermines of the preceding genus. 
The genus Chalybe. In this genus the palpi are conspicuously shorter than in the preceding. There is 
only one British species, and of that but one or two specimens have been taken. 
Chalybe pyrausta (the Sooty Ermine, No. 5), Ihave not been able to obtain a specimen of this rare 
species. There is not one in the collection of the British Museum ; nor is there a figure that I have been able 
to find in the illustrations of continental species in the works of Duponchel or Hiibner. It is described by Mr. 
Stainton as having the front-wings of a dull sooty black, with three deep black spots placed nearly in a line 
longitudinally. The fringe sooty. The posterior wings and fringe dark smoky gray. <A single specimen was 
taken in Sutherlandshire, in May, 1853, by Mr. Buxtone. 
The genus Prays. The insects assigned to this genus are smaller than those of the precediug. They have 
the antenne slender, filiform, and alike in both sexes. The head is smooth. The labial palpi are short, and 
hardly attenuated towards the tip. The hind-wings have no transparent patch divested of scales at the base of 
the hind-wings. The Caterpillars are solitary. There is only one British species. 
Prays Curtisellus (the Curtesian, No. 6). The Caterpillar of this pretty species is dull pale green, marbled 
with pale ruddy brown, the markings being darkest along the back. It feeds on the young shoots of the Ash, in 
May. The perfect insect appears in June and July, and is very abundant in many parts of the country, both in 
the north and south, from Plymouth to York. 
The Fifth Family of the Sub-division 7ineina is that of the Plutellidw. There are fowr genera in this 
family, comprising collectively eighteen species. Among these are the singular and handsome little Moth, well 
known as the ‘‘ Honeysuckle,” the pretty chequered Hook-tip, of extreme rarity, and the narrow-winged Veneer. 
Many of the other species are common, and some of them real pests to field and garden culture, especially the 
Gray Streak, Plutella porrectella and P. cruciferarum, so destructive to Turnip fields. 
The Caterpillars of most of the species appear in May and June, and the perfect insects in most cases 
hybernate in the perfect state, and may be driven from thatch, or found sheltering in crevices of old palings 
very early in the spring. The four genera are Eidophasia, Plutella, Cerostoma, and Theristis. 
The genus Hidophasia, The insects assigned to this genus have the antenne thickened at the base, which 
is covered with scales, The maxillary palpi are rudimental, and the labial palpi slender; the second joint 
is produced beneath in a slender tuft, the terminal joint pointed. The Caterpillar and its habits are unknown. 
There is but one British species. 
Eidophasia Messingiella (the Messingiellian, No. 7). This species, the illustration of which has been 
drawn from a specimen in the British Museum, is a recent addition to the list of British micro-lepidoptera, though 
now found to be plentiful in several localities, as Bristol, Lewes, Plymouth, &e. 
The genus Plutella, The insects assigned to this genus have the maxillary palpi short, and the second 
joint of the labial palpi produced beneath a slender tuft, the terminal joint being erect. The fore-wings are 
of long and narrow proportions, and not indented below the tip. The Caterpillars generally feed on Cruciferous 
plants, which comprise a large proportion of our culinary vegetables; and this renders their presence 
very undesirable to the gardener, notwithstanding the attractiveness of some of the finer species to the collector, 
Some of the species form very elegant open-work cocoons, through which the form of the chrysalis may be very 
clearly discerned. There are four British species. 
Plutella annulatella (the Annulated, No. 8). This pretty species has recently been taken in great 
wbundance at Searborough, at Belfast in Ireland, and other places, but the Caterpillar is as yet unknown. 
