68 PSYCHE. 
and is probably identical with /zriodendron- 
ella. 
Tischeria. 
In all of the species of this genus of 
which I have traced the life history (7. 
malifoliella, T. quercivorella and T. quer- 
citella), there are the same number of 
moults as in the greater number of lepi- 
doptera, viz., four (or five, if we include 
the moult into the pupal state) ; and there 
are no marked differences, either in color 
or structure, between the same larvae at 
different stages of growth. The oak-feed- 
ing species are more readily distinguished 
from each other by the character of the 
mines, than by the appearance of either 
the larva or imago. Mr. Stainton’s figure 
of T. marginea (Nat. Hist. Tin., v. 3, 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF 
plate), is very much like the larva of our 
T. malifoliella, but the head of marginea, 
as figured, is darker than that of malifo- 
liella, and the last three segments, espe- 
cially the last one, in the figure, are too 
short and narrow. The wings of the im- 
ago of marginea, as figured, are paler than 
those of malifoliella. The larva of mali- 
foliella is also slenderer than that of mar- 
ginea, and more moniliform, while each 
segment has on each side three hairs, which 
are not represented in the figure of mar- 
ginea. Marginea is perhaps nearer — or 
as near —our 7. aenia F. & B., which, 
like marginea, mines bramble leaves. The 
mine of marginea is, however, wider and 
more irregular than that of aenia. 
NACERDES MELANURA. 
BY HENRY LORING MOODY, MALDEN, MASS. 
As far as I am aware, nothing is yet 
known of the transformations of this very 
common beetle. At various times I have 
hunted assiduously for the larva, but with- 
out success. Thinking better luck might 
follow from trying to obtain larvae in an- 
other way, I captured a lot of the beetles 
with the purpose of getting the eggs. 
From the fact that the beetles are abundant 
about buildings with open rafters, I con- 
cluded that dry pine wood was the food of 
the larva, and confined the females in a 
vessel with a quantity of dry ‘ punky” 
pine. They laid their eggs freely, and in 
eight days the young appeared; when 
first hatched they measured a fraction over 
one mm. long. At intervals of one or two 
weeks I measured specimens, and, singu- 
larly enough, though apparently in good 
health, their growth after the first few days 
was hardly perceptible. At the end of 
seven months the largest specimens meas- 
ured barely more than two mm. long; in 
eleven months four mm., and at the be- 
ginning of the fifteenth month all were 
dead. It would be somewhat remarkable 
for any larva to sustain life so long under 
conditions altogether unfavorable. I am 
confirmed therefore in thinking that pine, 
or some one of the coniferous woods, in a 
dry state, is the food of this larva, but 
think I made a mistake in keeping the ves- 
sel so tightly closed as to exclude the air. 
The eggs of Nacerdes are cylindrical, a 
fraction over 1 mm. long, a little more than 
three times as long as their greatest breadth, 
tapering somewhat toward each end, some- 
times slightly curved, rounded at the ends. 
Color white, somewhat translucent, with a 
portion at each end semi-transparent. 
