80 



ELACHISTA MEGERLELLA. 



line ; anal segment with a brown 

 spot. The third and fourth segments 

 are the widest, thence the body gra- 

 dually tapers. 



Geographical Distribution. 



This species is generally common 

 in the South of England, and towards 

 the North it occurs at Manchester, 

 York, Scarborough and Stockton-on- 

 Tees. It does not appear to have 

 been observed in Scotland. In Ire- 

 land, it has been observed at Howth, 

 near Dublin. 



I am not aware of any Continental 

 localities. 



Synonymy. 

 The earliest description of this in- 

 sect is probably that of Amaurosetia 

 Megcrltlla, in Stephens' " Illustra- 

 tions." Unfortunately, no colour of | 

 the head is there given, which, in | 

 this section of the genus, is of im- i 

 portance ; this omission was supplied ; 

 by Stainton in his " Catalogue of i 

 British Tineidae," where this insect j 

 is briefly characterized as Elachista 

 Megerlella ; and the natural history ' 

 of this species, under this name, is j 

 given by Douglas in the *' Trans- j 

 actions of the Entomological So- I 

 ciety," vol. ii. N. S. Stainton de- | 

 scribed the insect again, under this 

 name, in the " Insecta Britannica." 

 Herrich-Schaffer, in his "Schmetter- 

 linge von Europa," describes and 

 figures it as Poedhptilta Megerlella. 

 Hawonh's Tinea unj/asciella was, I 

 believe, described from a specimen 

 of this insect, but the vagueness of 

 the description renders it an impos- 

 sible synonym. 



[Plate II. Fig. 2. 



chaque cote du dos, le dernier seg- 

 ment a une tache brune. Les troisieme 

 et quatrierae segmens sont les plus 

 larges ; de la le corps s'amincit pos- 

 terieurement peu-a-peu. 



La Distribution Geographique. 



Cette esp^ce est commune partout 

 dans le Sud de I'Angleterre, et vers le 

 Nord elle se trouve a Shrewsbury, a 

 Manchester, a York, a Scarborough 

 et a Stockton-sur-Tees. On ne 

 parait pas I'avoir encore observee 

 en Ecosse. En Irlande on I'a re- 

 marquee a Howth, pres Dublin. 



On ne connait pas jusqu'a present 

 de localite sur le Continent pour 

 cette espece. 



La Synonymie. 

 La premiere description de cet 

 insecte est probablement celle 

 d' Amaurosetia Megerlella, que nous 

 trouvons dans les "Illustrations" de 

 Stephens. Malheureusement il ne 

 dit rien de la couleur de la tete, ca- 

 ractere de premiere importance dans 

 cette section du genre ; Stainton y a 

 supplee dans son " Catalogue of 

 British Tineidae," oii il a brievement 

 caracterise I'insecte sous le nom 

 d' Elachista Megerlella ; c'est sous le 

 meme nom que Douglas en donne 

 I'histoire naturelle dans les Transac- 

 tions de la Societe Entomologique de 

 Londres, vol. ii. N. S. Stainton 

 decrit I'espece de nouveau sous ce 

 nom dans 1' " Insecta Britannica," et 

 Herrich-Schaffer dans ses "Schmet- 

 terlinge von Europa" la decrit et la 

 figure sous le nom de Poeciloptilia 

 Megerlella. La Tinea unifasciella de 

 Haworth a ete, il me semble, decrite 

 d'apres un individu de cet insecte, 

 mais la description qu'il donne est 



