THE TINEINA. I51 
ranean in its habits, and may be collected in great quantities 
in March and April. All the moths. of the genus Gedechia are 
exceedingly quick and active in their movements; at rest one 
moment, the next they have flown away with extreme rapidity; 
even without the use of their wings, they run away from the 
unwary collector. Many species are seen freely on the wing, 
arising in front, and settling a few paces in advance, and others 
lead a retired life. Some are met with in the perfect state 
during a considerable time, and there are two broods in the 
year of several kinds of the genus. Hybernation occurs but 
rarely. The larve, with sixteen legs, are generally active, and 
when crawling often raise the head with a peculiar tremulous 
movement. The greater number of them live in the buds and 
shoots of plants, or between curled leaves; two species feed in 
grass leaves rolled into a tubular form; many mine in the leaves 
of plants, and others eat inside the seeds and stems. The 
Gelechia of the Origanum mimics the habits of the Coleophora. 
The caterpillars of the genus Gvacillaria have only fourteen 
legs, like those of Lzthocolletis, and one species undergoes a 
total change of colour, from pale green to crimson, when about 
to assume the pupa state. This Graczllaria omissella mines the 
leaves of the Artemisia vulgaris, loosens large portions of the 
lower cuticle, and causes them to assume a bladdery appearance. 
All the larve of the genus are miners at first, and some remain 
so always, whilst a few discontinue this method of life, and 
proceed to roll up leaves instead. Most of the rollers form 
conical structures upon leaves; and Gracillaria auroguttella, 
which feeds upon the Hypericum perforatum, may be taken as an 
example of a very elaborate cone maker. It commences by 
mining a narrow strip, which puckers the leaf longitudinally, 
and then soon quits the mine and constructs its cone. The 
cone is formed by turning the tip of the leaf downwards, and 
so applying it to the under surface that the entire leaf is con- 
verted into a hollow space, with the edges fitting neatly. The 
form which the leaf then assumes is nearly that of a double cone 
(the cones united at their bases), and in it the larva proceeds to 
devour the under surface. When the interior of the cone is eaten 
up the caterpillar moves off to another leaf, and thus many rolled 
