A.T CANNES AND MENTONE IN 1866. 209 



genus for the reception of egregious, and to place it between 

 Swammerdamia and Hyponomeuta ; but the philosophy of the present 

 day is opposed to such a step, and the next discoveries made in this 

 group of insects will probably disclose other forms between Swam- 

 merdamia and Hyponomeuta, but not possessing characters perfectly 

 identical with those of eyregiellus. 



Prays oleellus, Boyer de Fonsoolombe. I found the young mining 

 Iarva3 of 'this species on the 12th of March, at the anemone-grounds 

 at Mouans, near Cannes. They were then extremely small, little 

 more than a line in length, of a pale olive-green, with the dorsal 

 vessel a little darker; the head is brown-black; and there is an 

 elongated brownish spot on the posterior half of the second segment ; 

 the anal segment has a small black plate ; they mine short galleries 

 or small blotches, ejecting the excrement through a small hole on 

 the underside of the mine. I believe all that I collected in the leaf- 

 mining stage died. 



I have to thank Herr Kaltenbach, of Aix-la-Chapelle, for the sug- 

 gestion that this insect belongs to the genus Prays and has similar 

 habits to P. Curtisellus. 



When the Iarva3 of Curtisellus, which mine the leaves of the ash 

 in October, quit the leaves, which naturally they do before they fall, 

 they burrow under the bark of the twigs, and then in the spring are 

 ready to attack the young shoots as soon as they begin to expand. 

 I have every reason to believe that the larvae of Prays oleellus in like 

 manner quit the leaves to burrow under the bark of the twigs, and 

 as soon as the young, tender, pale yellowish-green leaves begin to 

 develop, the larva attacks them, being then of a whitish green, 

 almost exactly resembling these young olive-leaves. The adult larva 

 is 3| lines long, whitish green, slightly darker on the back, espe- 

 cially at the place of the subdorsal lines ; the head is pale yellowish 

 brown ; the second segment is rather more whitish than the ground- 

 colour, with two dark brown spots above of rather irregular form. 

 It betrays its presence amongst the young leaves by its web and 

 " Frass." 



The larva is full-fed at the end of March or beginning of April, 

 and spins a slender open cocoon very similar to that of Curtisellus ; 

 in two or three weeks' time the perfect insects make their appear- 

 ance, but I have never remained late enough in the South to see the 

 imago at large. The insect varies considerably in its markings ; and 

 one specimen which I bred is almost of a uniform grey, with the 

 dark markings absent, thus reminding one of the dark variety of 

 Curtisellus. (See Nat. Hist. Tineina, vol. xi. p. 22, pi. 1. fig. 2.) 



Depressaria atomella, S. V. At Mentone, from the 15th to the 

 20th March, I collected several Iarva3 of a Depressaria on the spiny 

 broom, Calycotome spinosa, and hoped to breed from them some- 

 thing new ; the seven specimens, however, which I bred were all 

 the ordinary D. atomella. 



Gelechia ? A single specimen of a small obscure species 



taken flying amongst grass on the 23rd of March, at Mentone, near 



p 



