186 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



MINE. The larva makes very slender galleries in oak-leaves, as 

 yet not separated from those of A", rvftoapiteUa, Heinemanu says 

 that he has " hred large numbers of N. atricai>itella and X. samiatella, 

 H.-Sch., from the larva, but without being able to find any difference 

 between the mines or larvae, or between those of these species and X. 

 nifirapitella. The excremental track is very variable sometimes like a 

 thin line, sometimes it almost fills the entire mine, but generally it is 

 midway between the two extremes." He further adds that he " attempted 

 to separate the mines by the form of the excremental track : this was, how- 

 ever, not entirely practicable, owing to the very imperceptible gradations, 

 and eventually all three species came from the same mines." Snellen 

 says: " The mine is long, begins as a fine gallery, which widens 

 slowly and regularly until its termination. The excrement lies as an 

 almost uninterrupted, black central thread." Sorhagen writes: "The 

 mine is placed sometimes at the margin, sometimes in the middle of the 

 leaf. It is very long and tortuous, commences very finely and widens 

 gradually, until at its termination the width is considerable. The 

 frass-line is blackish, and varies much, sometimes occupying only the 

 central line of the mine, at other times entirely filling it." 



LARVA. The larva is yellowish in colour, and so similar to that of 

 X. ruficapitella, that there is great difficulty in determining them. 

 Stainton remarks that " the larva of ^Y. atricapitclla, though resembling 

 in habit that of X T . ruftcapitclla, has, like the imago, a black head " 

 (Xat. Hist. Tin., i., p. 24). Yet, from the catalogue of his collection at 

 the British Museum (South Kensington), one finds that he bred the 

 species, some from larvae with dark brown, others with pale, heads. 



COCOON. The cocoon is said to be like that of X. ruficapitella, and 

 Hind states that it is " reddish " in colour. Snellen says that it is of 

 a clear, light red-brown when first made, becoming darker later. Its 

 form is almost regularly oval. 



FOOD-PLANTS. Quercus pedunculate (Frey) ; Q. ro&urand Q. sessili- 

 jlora (Stainton) ; Q. pubescent (Milliere). 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The species is double-, or partially double- 

 brooded, appearing in May, and again in August, from larvae found 

 in September-October, and July respectively. Stainton captured 

 imagines on May 16th, 1852, May 30th, 1876, June 5th, 1877, at 

 Lewisham, on May 20th-21st, 1851, June 2nd, 1852, and May 12th, 

 1852, at Beckenhani, and on July 29th, 1851, on Artemisia vul</arix, 

 on Dartford Heath. He bred the species on April 5th, 1853 ; April 

 20th, 1855 (from pale-headed larva), on April 26th, 1853 (from 

 dark-? headed larva), on March llth, 1854 (from brown-headed larva), 

 on April 8th, 1854, and May 5th, 1855. 



LOCALITIES. CAMBRIDGE ; Cambridge (Warren). DORSET : Weymouth 

 (Richardson), I. of Purbeck, (Bankes), Bloxworth (Cambridge), Glanvilles Wootton 

 (Dale). DURHAM : Darlington (Stainton). GLOUCESTERSHIRE: Bristol (Stainton). 

 HEREFORD: Tarrington (Wood). KENT: Lewisham and Beckenhani (Stainton), 

 Eltham (Bower), "West Wickham (Bankes). Chattenden (Tutt). LANCASHIRE : 

 Manchester (Stainton). LINCOLN: nr. Alford (Fletcher;. NORFOLK: Norwich 

 (Barrett), King's Lynn (Atmore). SUFFOLK : Tuddenham (Warren). SURREY : 

 Haslemere (Barrett). SUSSEX : Lewes (Sfainton), Goring Woods, generally abundant 

 in oak woods in the county (Fletcher). YORKSHIRE : Doncaster district, generally 

 distributed and common (Corbett), Scarborough (Stainton), York (Hind), Hodders- 

 field (Inchbald), Richmond (Sang). SCOTLAND : To the Clyde (Meyrick). 



DISTRIBUTION. Austria : Eeichstadt and Vienna (Mann). France : 

 Nohaut, Indre (Sand), Cannes (Milliere). Germany : widely dis- 



