108 Mr. J. W. Douglas on Gelechia. 



&• 



I am not aware that this insect, which appears to be a great 

 pest in granaries in France, has been observed in similar places 

 in this country, though from the ignorance of insects generally 

 among those most immediately affected by their ravages, it may 

 exist in plenty without having been distinguished from other 

 moths whose larvae feed on grain. My own is the only British 

 specimen I have seen. 



Sp. 90. Nigritella. 



G. nigritella, Z. (Isis, 1847, p. 857.) 

 " Alis anterioribus fusco-nigris, guttalis duabus posticis oppo- 

 sitis pallidis obsoletis ; posteriorum apice valde producto ; 

 palporum articulo terminali longo; antennis fuscis. Mas." 



" Very near to G. Coronillella, and from it certainly distin- 

 guished by the narrow anterior wings and unicolorous brown 

 (not pale-annulated) antennae. A little larger than an ordinary 

 male Coronillella ; anterior wings narrow and more pointed, darker 

 spots on the disk are not visible, except one with difficulty per- 

 ceptible on the fold at the beginning of the last third ; the two 

 pale opposite spots are very small and faint, especially the lower 

 one, which stands inwards, instead of, as in Coronillella, perpen- 

 dicularly under the other. The pale, grey posterior wings have 

 in the male sex a stronger, more prolonged apex, the emargina- 

 tion below it is much blunter, and the projecting part of the 

 hinder margin, before the emargination, is not so convex. The 

 entire underside is rather paler than in Coronillella. The an- 

 tennae in this latter are distinctly annulated brown and white, and 

 have on the under side of the basal joint a white long streak ; in 

 nigritella they are quite unicolorous brown, on the under side of 

 the basal joint whitish ; in the palpi of both species the terminal 

 joint is the longest, but in Coronillella it has on the outer and 

 inner side a white long line, in nigritella it glitters on the entire 

 inner side and also on the back, whitish, but nowise in a fine long 

 line. Hinder tibiae and tarsi are in nigritella more slender." 



" A single male, taken 3rd May near Messina, high on the 

 southern slope of a mountain, among wild lupins." Z. loc. cit. 



A single specimen captured several years since, but of whose 

 capture I have no record, has been submitted to Herr Zeller, who 

 says that he has no hesitation in pronouncing it to be nigritella, 

 although it differs from his specimen in having the terminal joint 

 of the palpi shorter, the white on the back of the palpi in a more 

 distinct line, and the traces of two opposite spots on the wings 

 less evident. 



