LEPIDOPTERA OF NEW YORK AND NEIGHBORING SPATE'S 89 



reflections sometimes almost entirely absent, so that the dark band preceding the 

 fascia and the apical area are deep bronzy-golden. 4.5 to 4.8 mm. 

 Pennsylvania. 



16. Nepticula obscurella Braun. Tuft ocherous, eye-caps whitish. Fore wings 

 shining golden brown, tinged with bronze along the extreme costa and in the 

 apex. Just beyond two-thirds of the wing-length, an indistinct, narrow, whitish 

 fascia, broadest in the middle of the wing and fading out toward the ends. Viewed 

 from some angles, this fascia scarcely visible. Cilia of the general hue, their tips 

 around the apex paler, however, and coricolorous with the fascia. 3.5 mm. 



New Jersey; New York. 



The mine is a narrow serpentine track on the upper side of bayberry (Myrica 

 carolinensis) . There are two generations a year. 



17. Nepticula ostryaefoliella Clemens. Tuft ochraceo'us; eye-caps and collar shin- 

 ing cream-colored. Thorax and fore wings shining brown with faint bronzy and 

 purple reflections, which become deeper toward the predominantly purple apex. 

 At two-thirds of the wing length is a shining silvery fascia. Cilia tipped with 

 white around the apex. 4 mm. 



Pennsylvania; Ohio; Kentucky; North Carolina; British Columbia. 



The mine is a rather broad, serpentine track, gradually increasing in breadth 

 to the end, where it measures about 2 millimeters across; it occurs on various 

 species of birch (Betula spp. ) and on hop hornbeam (Ostrya). 



18. Nepticula paludicola Braun. Distinguished from the preceding species by 

 the following characters: tuft clay-colored or fuscous on the face, shading to buff 

 or cchraceous on the head; fascia slightly nearer the base. 3.5 to 4.5 mm. 



New Jersey; Ohio. 



The mine is a serpentine track on leaves of cranberry (Oxyooccus macrocarpus) . 



19. Nepticula altella Braun. Tuft orange -ochraceous in front, becoming pale 

 behind; eye-caps creamy white. Thorax dark purplish brown. Fore wings before 

 the fascia purple-brown, beyond it brown with purple reflections; general color 

 to the naked eye deep purple before the fascia and brown beyond it. A silvery 

 fascia crosses the wing at three-fifths, and is usually a little broader on the margins 

 of the wings. 6.5 to 7 mm. 



Southwestern Ohio, locally in pin -oak forests. 



The species has but one generation a year, the moths appearing in May. The 

 mines are found only on the first leaves of the pin oak (Quercus palustris) that 

 appear in the spring, never on the leaves that come later. The mine, which may 

 best be regarded as a lower-side mine, is at first much contorted, winding and 

 twisting within a small area, and causing a brownish discoloration of the sur- 

 rounding leaf. This part of the mine seems to be formed early in the season, and 

 the leaf around it is always dead when, in October, further feeding is resumed. 

 At this time the larva starts out to mine into the fresh, green part of the leaf, 

 where the mine is more distinct, due to the larva's partial eating of the leaf sub- 

 stance. The larva then becomes full-fed in a week or ten days and leaves the mine 

 to spin a dark brown cocoon. The mine is extremely long but measures only 

 1 to 1.5 mm. in width at its end. The larva is yellow, with a row of dark brown 

 dashes along the mid-ventral line. 



This species may be separated from all other species by the fact that the wing 

 is purple before the fascia and brown beyond, the reverse being true in all other 

 cases where there is a difference in color before and behind the fascia. 



20. Nepticula corylifoliella Clemens. Tuft ocherous to orange-ocjiraceous. Eye- 

 caps silvery white, spmetimes shading to fuscous outw r ardly. Thorax and fore 

 wings bronzy brown, with blue-purple reflections toward the costa and in the entire 

 apical part of the wing beyond the fascia, the color being there predominantly 

 purple. The purple reflections sometimes entirely lacking proximal to the fascia. 

 Fascia situated just beyond middle of wing, rather broad, narrowing toward the 

 costa. Cilia silvery-tipped at the apex. 3.5 mm. 



