6 SPECIES COLLECTED BY PKOFESSOK ZELLER 



beyond them is wanting ; the last joint of the palpi has only a 

 few dark scales in the middle. In other respects it is an ordinary 

 assimilella. 



D. peloritaneUa, n. sp. [Described, see p. 27.] This species is very 

 abundant in the mountains around Messina. After hibernation 

 I met with it several times in thickets on the mountains by the 

 Palermitane Strasse, at the end of February and in March, for 

 the most part much wasted. On one of those scarce, calm, mild 

 April evenings it flew up there rather abundantly, but the speci- 

 mens were quite unserviceable. In a similar locality I took a 

 perfectly fresh specimen on the 10th of July on the north side of 

 a high mountain ; it was first started as I trod down the fern with 

 which the slope is there covered. The larva probably feeds there 

 on Spartium junceum or Erica arborea ; the earliest time of 

 appearance is July. Doubtless it is only single-brooded ; but the 

 development is very irregular, as in several of our commonest 

 Depressarice, such as laterella, some of which also hybernate. 



Depressaria thapsiella, n. sp. [Described, see p. 28.] This probably 

 occurs in all localities where Thapsia yarganica grows. At 

 Messina this plant occurs both on the sea- coast and on the slopes 

 and in the ravines of the Peloro Mountain ; and I found this 

 larva on it everywhere, most freely in the higher places, of very 

 different sizes alter the middle of March. The young Iarva3 not 

 unfrequently live in multitudes, not in a common web, but yet so 

 close to one another that one might easily fancy they had a com- 

 mon web; they especially inhabit the youngest, innermost leaves, 

 which they eat, and hence come constantly nearer together. By 

 degrees they commence operating on the older leaves ; and as they 

 spin webs on them and devour the margins they form a large 

 compressed knob, which is readily perceived from a distance. 

 The more adult Iarva3, often mixed with the younger ones, live 

 more scattered on the ends and margins of the largest leaves, in 

 a white silken tube which they have placed between two leaf- 

 tips. From time to time they seek out other dwellings. They 

 generally sit with the head directed downwards. They are 

 extremely lively, like all the other Depressarice. One plant is 

 sometimes frequented by from 50 to 60 larvaB. [Description of 

 the larva, see p. 29.] 



By the 3rd of April great numbers had already changed to the 

 pupa state, whilst Iarva3 which were very young were still occur- 

 ring. For pupation they form a light silken cocoon on the floor of 

 the cage, and cover it externally with dirt. The larva-skin comes 

 off in three or four days. [Pupa described, see p. 30.] 



The first imago was hatched in Syracuse on' the 30th of April ; 

 the others followed up to the 4th of June : hence the period of 

 pupation lasts from three and a half to four weeks. At Syracuse 

 I also found traces of the abodes of the larvae on the leaves of the 

 Tlwpsia. At large I never saw any symptoms of the imago. 



D. ferulae, n. sp. [Described, see p. 30.] I collected a few larva? of 



