210 SPECIES OBSERVED BY THE AUTHOR 



the Annunziata. It reminds one somewhat of GelecJiia murinella, 

 but seems destitute of any definite markings, except the usual three 

 black spots; the specimen is serviceable only as an intimation of 

 something to be looked for, as I believe it accords with no known 

 species ; it would be quite impossible from this solitary example to 

 make a description which would be of any value*. 



Gelechia gypsophilce, n. sp. On the 26th of March, whilst saun- 

 tering along the ascent of Monte Grosso at Mentone, I chanced to 

 notice a small pod-like gall on some low plant, and on opening it 

 found to my surprise a larva evidently Lepidopterous. I then 

 searched and found other similar pod-like galls. The plant on 

 which they occurred was determined for me by my friend Mr. J. T. 

 Moggridge as GypsopTiila saocifraga, L. On the 22nd of March I 

 collected some more of these galls and found one tuft of the plant 

 quite full of them. Three days later, however, I found them far 

 more plentifully along a rocky path leading to the Gorbio valley, 

 and collected more than a hundred, and took several large tufts of 

 the plant with roots to enable me to rear the larva when I reached 

 home. I had expected these larvae would feed up inside the galls 

 and would probably assume the pupa state there ; but towards the 

 middle of April I found, to my dismay, that most of the larvae were 

 crawling about outside the galls : and they then fed sparingly on 

 the young shoots of the growing plants. By the end of the month 

 some had evidently spun cocoons on the surface of the ground ; but 

 all through the month of May not a single specimen of the imago 

 made its appearance, and I was beginning to fear that all had mis- 

 carried, when the first moth appeared on the 3rd of June ; another 

 followed the next day, and thereafter they came out rapidly up to 

 the 17th of June, by which time I had reared upwards of thirty 

 specimens. 



Gypsophila being a genus of the Caryopliyllacece, I had expected 

 that the moth would prove to be a Gelechia of the group attached to 

 that Natural Order of Plants ; one species in that group, caulige- 

 nella, Schmid, being already known to inhabit, when in the larva- 

 state, gall-like swellings in the stems of Silene nutans. I was not 

 disappointed, the perfect insects being very closely related to leuco- 

 melanetta, from which, however, they differ in their smaller size 

 (exp. al. 4-5 lin.), more distinct pale central blotch of the anterior 

 wings, and generally by the paler basal portion of the anterior 

 wings ; the opposite spots are placed rather more perpendicularly 

 than in leucomelanella. These differences, however, are so slight 

 that a large specimen of gypsopliilce caught on the wing would not 

 be easily distinguished from a captured leucomelanella. 



The larva is 3 lines long, of a dull yellowish green, the dorsal 

 vessel a little darker ; the head is black ; the second segment bears 

 a brown-black plate divided by a slender central line ; the anal seg- 

 ment has no dark plate. 



* When looking through the collection of the Museum at Vienna, I 8aw a 

 specimen of Mann's Gelechia petiginetta from the Tyrol. It reminded me of 

 my Mentone capture. 



