42 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENUS LITHOCOLLETIS. 



lensis" contains only one of this 

 genus, and his Elachista Blancardella 

 will do for almost any of the Pomi- 

 foliella group. 



One hundred and twenty-five years 

 had elapsed, since Frisch had written 

 on two of the genus, and though 

 some species had been treated on 

 by many authors in different coun- 

 tries, yet the greatest number of 

 ' species ever simultaneously recorded 

 had never exceeded 17, when in the 

 year 1846 there appeared, in the 

 first volume of the " Linnaea Ento- 

 mologica," a monograph of the 

 genus by Zeller, in which no less 

 than 41 species were ftdly described, 

 several with notices of their habits, 

 and all that had previously been 

 written on the genus was carefully 

 collated and criticised. 



This paper was the first of a series 

 which have since appeared in the 

 successive volumes of that useful 

 publication ; and it was with no small 

 surprise that many perceived that 

 nearly 100 pages 8vo. were devoted 

 to the descriptions of the species of a 

 single genus of the Micro-Lepi- 

 doptera. The rapid increase in the 

 number of the genus from the 17 

 previously existing to 41, naturally 

 led to the suspicion that here surely 

 was an instance of species-making, 

 that mere varieties must have been 

 considered as distinct species ; but on 

 the closest scrutiny being instituted 

 it was found that all the new species 

 were really distinct, and if one or two 

 names have since been dropped, it 

 has been because the discrimination 

 of species had not been carried far 

 enough, and that several species, 

 veritably distinct, had been col- 

 lected together as one. 



d'Eversmann" ne renferme qu'une 

 seule espece de Lithocolletis, et son 

 Elachista Blancardella semble assez 

 bien convenir a toutes les especes 

 du groupe de la Pomifnliella. 



Cent-vingt-cinq ans se sont ecoules 

 depuis que Frisch avait ecrit sur une 

 ou deux especes de ce genre, et quoi- 

 que quelques unes aient ete mention- 

 nees successivement par plusieurs 

 auteurs, dans differents pays, ce- 

 pendant le plus grand nombre 

 d'especes que nous trouvions chez 

 un seul auteur ne depassait jamais 

 dix-sept, lorsqu'en 1846 parut, dans 

 le premier tome de la " Linnsea 

 Entomologica," une monographic par 

 Zeller, dans laquelle 41 especes 

 sont decrites avec beaucoup de 

 details, des observations donnees 

 sur les moeursde plusieurs entr'elles, 

 et du reste tout ce qui avait deja ete 

 public sur ce genre est cite et soumis 

 a la critique. Cette monographic 

 fut le premier essai d'une serie de 

 travaux que les volumes suivants 

 de cet utile recueil a mis au jour, 

 et ce fut avec beaucoup de surprise, 

 qu'on voyait pres d'une centaine de 

 pages in octavo consacrees aux 

 descriptions des especes d'un seul 

 genre Micro-Lepidopterique. L'ac- 

 croissement rapide de leur nombre 

 de 17 a 41, a naturellement provoque 

 quelques soup9ons relativement a 

 la legitimite des nouveautes ex- 

 posees, et la question si de simples 

 varietes avaient ete prises pour des 

 especes ; mais la revision la plus 

 rigoureuse a confirme que les nou- 

 velles especes etaient reellement dis- 

 tinctes ; ajoutons que si nous ne nous 

 servons pas aujourd'hui de quelques 

 noms adoptes dans ce travail, la 

 raison en est que la delimitation 

 specifique n'y avait pas encore por- 



