BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 

 NEPTICULA WOOLHOPIELLA 



SYNONYMY. 



it. Species: Woolliopiella, Sta., " Ent. Mo. Mag.," xxiv., p. 02 (1887). 

 Argentipedella, Meyrick, " Handbook," etc., p. 721. in part (1895). 



ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION. Smaller than X. arycntipedella, with the 

 apical half of the wing blacker, the fascia brighter (that is, more 

 silvery), and rather more oblique on its inner edge ; in N. aryentijwlella, 

 the fascia generally expands a little towards the base on the inner 

 margin of the wing, which gives the inner edge of the fascia a rather 

 concave appearance ; in the new birch-feeder the inner edge of the 

 fascia has not this concave appearance, it being nearly straight, 

 though oblique (Stainton, Ent. ^[<>. Mayazine, xxiv., p. 62). 



IMAGO. Head dark fuscous, white eye-caps prominent. Anterior 

 wings 5 mm. in expanse ; blackish-fuscous ; a bright, white, oblique, 

 transverse fascia near the centre ; apfcx and costal fringes blackish ; 

 cilia uniformly blackish-grey. Posterior wings and cilia pale grey. 



COMPARISON OF N. WOOLHOPIELLA AND N. ARGENTIPEDELLA. X. 

 woolhopiella looks much like a small edition of X. aryentijn'iltila, but 

 the females have not the reddish head of that sex of the latter species. 

 Meyrick refers X. woo&opieUa to X. aryentipedella, but gives no reason 

 for doing so. He appears to be entirely wrong in this. Wood writes : 

 " The imagines of these species are much alike, except in the matter 

 of size (X. woolhopiella being a much smaller insect), but in mine, 

 larva and habits they are distinct enough. Both lay their eggs on 

 the underside of a leaf. The mine of A T . aryentipedella is more or less 

 circular, with a black opaque spot in the centre. That of A T . wuolhn- 

 piella roughly triangular, with a small knot of convolutions in one 

 corner, very similar to the bundle of convolutions from which the 

 mine of X. continuella starts. Both mines form blotches. The larva 

 of X 1 . aryentipedella lives in its mine venter up. In form it is unusu- 

 ally flat, legs very small, the thoracic segments large and heavy, 

 something after the fashion of a Microptery.r larva ; colour whitish, 

 head brown, intestinal canal green ; cephalic ganglia and nerve-cord 

 distinct brown. The larva of X. icoolhopiella is yellow. The larva 

 of N. woolhopiella is to be found in August and September, that of 

 N. aryentipedella in September and October, or as long as the leaves 

 hang on the trees. X T . argimtipeddla is a remarkably slow feeder. It 

 spends a great deal of time under the black canopy, in the middle of 

 its mine, doing nothing, just like a Tiseheria. Probably its shape, so 

 peculiar for a Nepticulid larva, is connected with its habit of moving 

 freely about its mine " (in litt., June 3rd, 1898). 



EGG-LAYING. The egg is laid on the underside of a leaf of birch. 



MINE. The first part of the mine forms a gallery which is short 

 and twisting, but it becomes hidden away in a corner of the blotch 

 that is finally formed. The completed mine really forms a blotch, 

 roughly triangular in shape, and usually placed in the body of the 

 leaf, occasionally, however, on the edge ; in the former case it bears a 

 general likeness to the mine of X. subbimaculella, and in the latter to 

 that of X. pulrerosella in wild apple. A tiny brown spot, consisting 

 of a knot of convolutions occupies one corner of the blotch and indi- 

 cates the point from which the mine started, and this tiny knot 

 occupies the whole life of the larva from the time of hatching until 

 the assumption of the last skin (Wood). 



LARVA. Stainton describes the larva of N. woolhopiella as " very 



