1907.] MICROLEPIDOPTERA OF TEXERIFE. 975 



126-7, 146 no. 185 (1896) 3 : XIII. 377, 381 no. 199 (1898) 4 . 

 Yyxiomeula gigas Ilbl. Ann. KK. Hofmus. XXI. 44 no. _!0f) 

 (1906)'': Stgr-Rbl. Cat. Lp. Pal. II. 132 no. 2361 (1901). 



If ah. Canaries l ~' TEXERIFE 2 ~ G : Realejo, Salix canariensis, 

 25. IV, excl. Y - VI. 1895 (Jledemann) 3 , 25. IV- 7. V, excl. 

 10. V - 2. VI. 1907 (IVlsm.) ; La Laguna, Populus alba, 21. V, 

 excl. 30. V. 1907 (TFZsw.); Santa Cruz, 1. VI. 1889 (Krauss} 2 - 

 GRAX CANARiA 1 ' : 1890 (Eichter) 1 '> <& Salix, Populus, Ocotea 

 (Oreodaphne)foetens,exc\. 29. IV - 25. V. 1893 (Lowe) ; nr. Teror, 

 Populus, excl. 10. V. 1895 (ffedemaam) 3 ] Santa Brigida, 

 Salix canariensis, excl. IV C - V b . 1898 (ffintz) \ 



Many years ago I received a considerable number of larvae of 

 this species from Dr. John Lowe, who wrote as follows : 



" The larvae occur in countless myriads on the Willow, Poplar, 

 and 'Till' trees (Laurel : Oreodaphnefoetens). They spin a fine 

 silken web over the entire tree, even to its ultimate branches, 

 which makes them look white and silvery. The underwood and 

 stones at the base are also covered with the silk tissue, which is 

 so closely woven that there are no visible openings. I was able to 



strip off pieces five or six feet in length." "It is just 



possible that there may be more than one species, but I am 

 doubtful about this. If it is so one will be found in the box, with 

 a pin through it, which I took from Salix the rest were from 

 Oreodaphne. I am sending you some of the silk, which is most 

 remarkable. The brushwood under the trees was completely 

 covered by it, also the grasses and large stones. The tree- trunks 

 were so closely covered that one could not see even a pinhole on 

 the smooth trunks of the 'Till' every branch was covered, and 

 scarcely a leaf remained on any of the infested trees, which were 

 60 or 70 ft. high. At the base of the trunks the appearance of 

 the web was most singular large reticulations, like pulmonary 

 cells, seemed to open one into the other, but on closer examination 

 the apparent openings were found to be closed by a membrane of 

 perfect continuity, but so transparent that until something was 

 passed through it one could not perceive that it existed." 

 (Dr. Lowe, in Hit., 29. IV., 20. V. 1893.) 



I first met with Hyponomeuta gigas on three large trees of 

 Salix canariensis, at the first branching of the large barranco above 

 Realejo Alto : the ends of the branches were entirely covered with 

 the colonies of larvae, in dense web, having a seriously denuding 

 effect upon the foliage. Subsequently I found it, in less abundance, 

 on Populus alba, in the Eucalyptus avenue, running north-east 

 from La Laguna. There is no difference between the specimens 

 reared from Salix and Populus respectively ; the larvae also were 

 ^distinguishable. Rebel originally described gigas (I. c. 1) as 

 sexually dimorphic, having " alis plumbeis, anterioribus c? punctis 

 nigris triseriatis, $ innotatis " ; subsequently, however, he came to 

 the conclusion that both sexes occurred in both forms, and that 

 the spotless form was characteristic of Gran Canaria, appearing 



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