the Lepidoptera of St. Helena. 423 
have a small palish triangular spot or obscure blotch on the 
inner margin at the extremity of the fold. Hind wings of a 
glossy silken cinereous, rather darker at the apex. Thorax 
concolorous with the anterior wings. Body somewhat paler. 
It was chiefly at Plantation that I met with this species, 
where it abounds ; indeed it is much too abundant, as in the 
caterpillar-state it is most destructive to the potato-ci'ops. 
Mr. Melliss observes, u The larva of this moth is well known 
in the island as the potato-worm. It is a small, translucent, 
maggot-like creature, of a dirty whitish hue, marked with four 
longitudinal rows of small brown spots, and having a few 
long hairs on its body. In length it varies from a half to 
three quarters of an inch. The head is hard, and of a choco¬ 
late-brown colour; and the little creature moves backwards 
quite as easily as it does forwards. It abounds in the island, 
and is a thorough pest to the potato-crops. Either the eggs 
are laid in the potatoes, or the larva enters them in an early 
stage of its growth, and, through its depredations, renders 
them quite unfit for food. When changing to the pupa-state 
it wraps itself up in a strong web, in the form of a close, 
tough envelope; and the chrysalis is of a light mahogany 
colour, with the positions of the wings and legs, even in its 
early stage, strongly marked longitudinally down the outside 
of the case or skin.” It would therefore appear to be only 
in the more cultivated parts of the island that this species has 
established itself; and on rapping the trunks of trees in such 
situations the imagos fly off in showers ; nevertheless they very 
quickly settle again. 
Tinea compositarum , E. Woll. 
Expanse 5-6 lines. With the maxillary palpi rather long, 
though folded and concealed; the labial ones are projected 
horizontally, divaricating, and gradually thickened towards 
the apical joint; the head is rough, but having the face some¬ 
what globose and covered with imbricated scales. The fore 
wings are of a suffused greyish cinereous, densely irrorated 
with darker scales ; the costal margin is somewhat paler, below 
which (particularly on the basal half) there are usually a 
few minute blackish specks. The whole surface, however , 
very obscure and rather variable, and has often the costal 
margin uniform with the rest of the wing. At the apex there 
is a small and somewhat wedge-shaped marking composed of 
a few blackish scales ; and the fringe is also intermingled 
with similar ones. Hind wings smoky cinereous, but having 
the fringe slightly paler. Thorax concolorous with the an¬ 
terior wings, body with the posterior ones. 
