THE MICRO-LEPIDOPTERA, OR LEAF-MINERS. 31 



long antennae thrown forward. The bright yellow dot of life 

 is absorbed in the work of depositing its eggs on the under side 

 of the blackberry leaves, which will soon have the tracery of 

 a little mine, resembling a cornucopia, and puckered at the 

 widest part because the Tischeria does not quit that shelter, 

 but changes to a pupa in its mine. Side by side we may 

 observe the more wavy and intricate hieroglyphic of the Nep- 

 ticula, and compare the larva. The moth is four lines long. 



GlypMpteryx equitella is not a leaf-miner, but a burrower, 

 and with a truly microscopic beauty, for the exquisite mark- 

 ings of its wings are never well seen except with a pocket lens 

 or a three-inch object-glass. The dark bronzy-grey ground 

 is streaked with pure white, edged with silver ; two violet- 

 silvery spots in the middle, and another at the tip, near which 

 a hook of jet-black scales project through the cilia. This 

 moth flies over the stonecrop in June, where it deposits the 

 eggs, from whence a little miner comes forth to plunge into 

 the stem, and work away in a channel through which it revels 

 in the ascending sap. 



Elachista luticomella (Fig. 10), though but little known till 

 recently, may be seen in swarms on summer evenings hovering 

 over their favourite DactyUs glomerata, or Cocksfoot-grass, 

 which feeds the young larvae. Stainton names forty species of 

 the grass-miners, which, when full grown, quit the mine, and 

 attach themselves to the stem of a neighbouring plant. They 

 fix their bodies by a silken belt like the cabbage caterpillar, 

 and change to an angulated pupa, 



Ochsenheimeria (Fig. 11) is properly not a microscopic moth, 

 for it is from five to six lines in expansion, and not particu- 

 larly beautiful ; but the head (Fig. 15) is most curious, and 

 deserves observation. Its feathered antennae and bird-like 

 eyes are unlike all other moths. It can be caught only in the 

 hottest part of the day, from 12 A.M. to 2 P.M., when it hops 

 about the grass, depositing eggs on the Dactylu glomerata. It 

 is marvellously quick in hiding away, and if not swept into 

 the net whilst on the wing, will not be easily secured. 



The Gelechidw have varied habits, for the larvae of many of 

 them feed between the united leaves of sallows, honeysuckle, 



