NEPTICULA SEPTEMBREI/LA. 837 



Loire," p. 354 (1866) ; Staud. and Wocke, " Cat.." p 339 (1871) ; Nolck., " Lep. 

 Fn. Est.," p. 790 (1871); Hein. and Wocke, " Schmett. Deutsch.," p. 763 

 (1877); Sand, "Cat. Lep. Auv.," p. 202 (1879); Peyer., "Cat. Lep. Als.," 2nd 

 Ed., ii., p. 167 (1882) ; Sorhagen, " Die Kleinschmett. Brandbg.," p. 309 (1886) ; 

 Meyr.. "Handbook," etc., p. 724 (1895). 



ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION. Nepticula septembrella, n. sp. Anterior 

 wings blackish, with a single yellowish spot on the disk near the anal 

 angle ; head ferruginous ; antennae greyish. One specimen taken by Mr. 

 Bedell, at West Wickham, last September (Stainton, Sys. Cat. of 

 Brit. Tin. and Pterophoridae, p. 29). Following this, Stainton wrote 

 (Insecta Britannica, p. 299) an extended diagnosis as follows: " Alis 

 anticis nigris, macula triangulari dorsi pone medium albida, capillis 

 ferrugineis ; antennis fuscis ; tarsis posticis unicoloribus albidis. 

 Exp. al. 2 lin. Head and face reddish-yellow. Palpi whitish. An- 

 tennae fuscous, basal joint whitish. Hinder tarsi unicolorous whitish. 

 Anterior wings black, with a rather triangular whitish spot on the 

 inner margin beyond the middle; cilia whitish. Posterior wings 

 whitish-grey, with paler cilia." 



IMAGO. Head reddish-yellow. Anterior wings 4 mm. ; black ; a 

 somewhat triangular whitish spot on inner margin towards anal 

 angle ; cilia whitish* Posterior wings whitish-grey, cilia paler. 



COMPARISON OF N. SEPTEMBRELLA WITH ITS ALLIES. This species 

 belongs to that section of the genus in which the dark-coloured 

 anterior wings have a single pale spot on the inner margin, placed 

 not towards the middle, as in N. intimella, but towards the anal 

 angle, nearly as in N. catkarticella. From this last species, which it 

 very closely resembles, it may be distinguished by the tarsi being 

 unicolorous whitish, and not annulated with dark fuscous. The pale 

 spot of the anterior wings is also a little larger and less shining 

 (Stainton). 



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

 Hypericttm. 



MINE. The mine commences as a long and extremely slender 

 gallery, in which the excrement appears at first as a reddish-brown line, 

 but, as it proceeds, the excrement becomes darker, till it appears nearly 

 black ; after going round and across the leaf two or three times, a 

 blotch is formed, and the excrement is then deposited in little arcs of 

 circles, very similarly to that of Cemiostoma scitella and C. labumella. 

 Finally the mined blotch occupies the entire leaf, if it be a small one, 

 and the narrow lines of the original gallery still being distinctly 

 visible, give it a singular appearance (Stainton). Wood notes that 

 " the mine consists, in its first portion, of a gallery, and ends in a 

 distinct blotch ; the latter is not commenced until some little time 

 after the larva has passed its third moult." Threlfall notes it as 

 " most intricate and blotch-like." 



LARVA. Length 2 lines ; shining, transparent, light yellow ; the 

 dorsal vessel showing through greenish ; head small, brown, much 

 concealed beneath the prothorax ; the latter dark brown anteriorly ; 

 the meso- and metathorax the largest ; those beyond taper gradually 

 to the posterior end (Stainton). Wood notes that " the larva, which 

 makes a hollow or balloon-like blotch, partakes much of the 

 ILicropteryx type, being without legs, and with deep segmental 

 incisions;" also that " the dark ventral spots found in the middle 

 life of some Nepticulid larvae, remind one of some of the ventral spots 



