NEPTICULA FILlPENDULffi. 251 



part of the leaf being as it were occupied with a blotch, although even 

 then the frass-line shows the course of the larva. The most regular 

 blotches are found in the three terminal leaflets in which the paren- 

 chyma is continuous at the base. The mines are very conspicuous 

 from the upper, almost invisible from the underside, until held against 

 the light. Fletcher says : "The larva mines the leaves of the Spiraea, 

 just as that of N. poterii mines those of Poterium." Sorhagen writes : 

 " Gangmine am Blattrande entlang." 



COCOON. The cocoons (three dozen or more) average from 2-3 mm. 

 in length, and 1-5-2 mm. in width. In outline the cocoon forms 

 a rough oval, tending, however, to many irregular forms, owing 

 to a very wide flange that runs round the middle line of the cocoon. 

 This gives the cocoon a very flattened appearance, although in reality 

 it is Avell arched centrally, both above and below the rim. The cocoons 

 are dull brownish in colour, some, however, with a distinct greenish 

 tinge. The surface of the upper part is much smoother than the 

 lower, the former with a very strong system of reticulations, red-brown 

 in colour, distributed over it. At the edge of the rim are a number of 

 loose; flossy silken fibres, somewhat paler in appearance than the 

 body of the cocoon. Many of the cocoons are spun on the upper 

 surface of a leaf of the food-plant, others among moss, etc. [De- 

 scribed July 5th, 1898, under a two-thirds lens, from cocoons sent by 

 Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher.] The cocoon is very similar to that of the 

 aurella group, but with a still wider and more conspicuous lateral 

 flange. 



FOOD-PLANT. Spiraea filipendula. 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The insect is, no doubt, double-brooded. 

 The larva feeds in October, and probably in July (Fletcher). Sorhagen 

 says that the larva is to be obtained in July and October. Stainton 

 has imagines bred in May, 1884, from larvae obtained on Worthing 

 Downs the preceding September. 



LOCALITIES. SUSSEX : Steyning Downs, Brighton Downs, Eastbourne, 

 Worthing, not uncommon (Fletcher). 



DISTRIBUTION. Germany: Silesia (Wocke), Breslau (Sorhagen). 



NEPTICULA ACETOS^E, Stainton. 



SYNONYMY. Species : Acetosae (Shield, " Zool.," 1853, p. 4153), Sta., " Ins. 

 Brit.," p. 303 (1854) ; " Nat. Hist. Tin.," L, p. 228 ; pi. vi., fig. 2 (1855) ; " Ent. 

 Ann.," 1855, 1st Ed., p. 59; " Man.," ii., p. 436 (1859); "Nat. Hist. Tin.," vol. 

 vii., p. 150(1802); Frey. "Linn. Ent.," xi., p. 422 (1857); Staud. and Wocke, 

 "Cat.," p. 337(1871); Hein. and Wocke, " Schmett. Deutsch., p. 750 (1877); 

 Sorhagen, Die Kleinschmett.Brandbg.," p. 345 (1886) ; Hering, " Stett.Ent. Zeit.," 

 lii., p. 220 (1891) ; Meyrick, " Handbook." etc., p. 718 (1895). 



ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION. The first notice of this species by name 

 reads as follows : Nepticula acetosae (Stainton), n. sp., larvae in the leaves 

 of Piumex acetosella ; July, October and November (Shield, Zoolo- 

 f/ist, 1853, p. 4153). Mr. Shield appears to have bred a single 

 imago in August, 1853, from the July, 1858, larvae. This is the 

 specimen described in Insecta Britannica, where Stainton writes : 

 " Acetosae (Sta.), Shield, Zool., 1853, p. 4153. Alis anticis nitidis 

 fuscis, pone medium violaceo-tinctis, fascia fere recta pone 



* The absolutely first note referring to this species appears to be by Stainton, 

 and is without a name. He writes ; " Other Nepticulids mine in numerous con- 

 centric circles, as the species in Hypericum, and that which Mr. Shield discovered 

 last autumn in the sorrel [Zoologist, xi., p. 3954 (1858)]. 



