314 THE entomologist's KECoib. 



abundance of flowering plants. On August 17th and 21st Cyaniris 

 argiolus was seen at Worcester Park. On the 29th half a dozen 

 Acidalia diinidiata hatched from pup^e, the eggs of which were found 

 on July 25th on lettuce. A run was made .over to Wicken again on 

 August 30th for two days. At this late period of the year there is neces- 

 sarily not much to be done, but those who want Hi/bonia strigosa will, if 

 their patience lasts, beat out, perhaps, one larva from hawthorn after six 

 hour's work. Bailey had taken something like half a dozen, but I was 

 unrewarded. Wicken is probably the limit of its range as one is there 

 off the chalk, to which formation the species is attached. A few larvae of 

 Hecatcra chrysozona were still about on the lettuce seeds, and Manduca 

 atropos was being found fairly commonly in potato fields. Something 

 like three dozen larvte and pupge had already been secured by different 

 individuals. It is quite probable that this species breeds in and around 

 Wicken yearly, as besides potato there is a large quantity of Lycium 

 barhareum grown in the cottage gardens, and should a few larvae feed up 

 and pupate at the roots of this, the large conspicuous chrysalis would 

 escape the inevitable detection to which it is exposed when ensconsed 

 at the roots of potato. Upon my return home a large number of 

 Acidalia dimidiata had emerged, in fact all the pupa-cases were empty, 

 which goes to show that the second brood was not a partial, but a 

 complete one. 



On the generic name Micropterix (Micropteryx), Hub. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Although the proper use of the name Micropteryx was fully cleared 

 up in The Natural History of the British Lepidoptera, vol. i., pp. 

 129-130, it is still so generally misapplied by some lepidopterists that 

 a brief summary of the principal facts may be advisable. Hubner, in 

 the Verzeichniss, p. 426 (1826), founded the genus Micropterix for the 

 three species mucidella, Hb., podevinclla, Hb. ( = arunceUa, Scop.), and 

 pusilella, Hb. { = caltheUa, Linn.). The first species is an Elachistid, 

 and leaves aruncella and calthella as representatives of Micropterix, 

 Hb. 



In 1839, Curtis separated the British Micropterygid and Eriocraniid 

 species from Lawpronia under tlie name of Eriocephala, and cited " cal- 

 thella" as the type. This m.&,de Eriocephala synonymous with MicrojHerix, 

 Hb., for Stephens in 1835 hsid. constituted calthella the type of Micropteryx. 

 Stainton, however, maintained (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1850, pp. 20 

 et seq.) the name Eriocephala for the "calthella" group, but, in 1851, 

 Zeller (Linn. Ent., v., pp. 322-8) reverted to the original use of the 

 name Micropteryx and kept it for the " ccdthclla" group, creating 

 Eriocrania for the " pnrpurella" group. This division was main- 

 tained by Snellen {De Vlind. van Nederland, pp. 1065 ct seq.) in 1882. 



Kirby properly sinks [Lloyd's Nat. Hist. Lep., v., p. 315) Eriocephala, 

 Curt., as a synonym of Micropterix, but states that the type of the 

 latter genus is aureatella, a species not included in Hubner's genus. 

 This is undoubtedly incorrect as calthella had been fixed as the type by 

 Stephens. It is quite evident that Meyrick's use of the name 

 Eriocephcda for the calthella group, and Micropteryx for the purpurella 

 group, is equally erroneous. Chapman, in his important papers on 

 this group in the Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1893 et seq., commenced by 



