18 OBSERVATIONS ON TINEINA. 



runs along the fold, and in the centre of this streak is a black 

 spot. 



For my acquaintance with the larva of this insect I am 

 indebted to Monsieur Milliere, who showed me a number of 

 them in one of his breeding-cages when I called on him at 

 Cannes on the 10th of March, and the next day he took me 

 to a locality where the larvae occurred, and I had an oppor- 

 tunity of learning their habits. They feed on Erica scopariOy 

 and seem to prefer bushes which are not densely clothed 

 with leaves. They are not exactly gregarious, but generally 

 several occur on the same plant. They spin slight webs in 

 the upper twigs of the bush, and in these webs form thicker 

 tubes of silk, open at each end, in which they reside. 



The handsome larva I have thus described : — 



Length 6 lines ; above blueish-black, with an ochreous line 

 on each side of the slender blue-black dorsal line; the 

 spiracular line whitish-ochreous, more yellowish on the an- 

 terior half of each segment ; spots black ; head tawny, in- 

 clining to ferruginous; the second segment blackish, with 

 a central whitish line ; belly grey. 



The younger larvae appear darker, the pale lines on the 

 back being less distinct and often interrupted. 



I did not meet with this at Mentone, where Erica scoparia 

 does not occur. 



The perfect insects made their appearance from the 19th 

 of April to the 5th of May. 



* Prays oleellusy Boyer de Fonscolombe; first described 

 in the " Annales de la Societe Entomologique de France" 

 for 1837, pp. 180—182, under the name of Tmea oleella. 

 Having obtained from Herr Kaltenbach, in the autumn of 

 1865, the suggestion that this olive-feeder was congeneric 

 with the ash-feeding Prays Curtisellus, I looked for it dili- 

 gently at Cannes and Mentone in March last. Nor was I 



