118 Mr. H. T. Stainton on Gracilaria, 



enough of two known species, however closely allied, by a very 

 few words sufficiently to distinguish both ; but a voluminous 

 description is necessary to distinguish an insect from an allied 

 species that may not yet be known ; we can by no means foresee 

 what character will be important as distinguishing two allied 

 species, one of which has yet to be discovered ; and it is only by 

 a minute circumstantial description of all the parts of a species 

 that we prevent doubts hereafter arising which of two very similar 

 species it was that we intended by our description. Hence the 

 great uselessness of nearly all descriptions of Micro-Lepidoptera 

 made by most authors. 



Section A. 



Sp. 1. Franckella, Hiibner. (PI. XIV. fig. 10.) 



Alis anticis rufis violaceo-nitidis, triangulo costali ad costam pro- 

 ducto, dorsoque ad basim, flavis. 



Franckella, Hub. Tin. 379; Zell. Linn. Ent. ii. 314. 

 Thunbergella, Steph. Ulust. iv. p. 360 ; Fabr. 3, 2, 326 ? 

 Hilaripennella, Tr. ix. 2, S. 196 ; x. 3, S. 297 ; Dup. xi. 583, 



pi. 511, fig. 1. 

 S'wederella, Thun. M. N. Ac. Upsal. Part VI. p. 80 * figs. 1 



and 2 ? 



Var. b, ut a, sed alis anticis saturatioribus, costa obsoletissime 

 fusco-punctata. 



Not to be confounded with any known species. 



Expansion of the wings 5^ — 6 lines. 



Head reddish brown, with a violet gloss ; face pale yellow ; 

 palpi pale yellow, the terminal joint externally brown before the 

 apex (in var. b, this joint is also brown on the upper side) ; an- 

 tennae pale yellow, with brown annulations ; thorax pale yellow 

 in the middle, reddish brown on the sides and in front ; abdomen 

 grey, beneath dirty white ; the four anterior legs have the femora 

 and tibiae dark reddish brown, tarsi yellowish white ; posterior 

 legs, base of the femora whitish, apex dark brown, tibiae at the 

 base pale brown, towards the apex darker, tarsi dirty yellowish 

 white. 



Anterior wings bright rufous-brown, with a violet gloss ; a 

 little before the middle the costal triangle commences, it is pale 

 yellow, and reaches beyond the fold of the wing, has no prolonged 

 apex, but its base is prolonged on the costa to near the apex of the 

 wing ; a yellow triangular spot extends from the base along the 



