132 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



Like most studies, that of the Coleophorids is beset with difficulties, 

 but the paramount obstruction here lies in the woful want of know- 

 ledge of the earlier stages. The ovum is a very important item, and I 

 doubt whether any observer knows more than a dozen eggs of this 

 genus. The little that is known shows that there are at least four 

 distinct types of egg. Dr. Chapman has described the ovum of mitri- 

 nipenella as -'very soft, moulding itself readily to the position in which 

 it is laid, pearly white, no surface sculpturing, the long axis is the 

 micropjlar one, the other two were not detected to be different. The 

 micropylar area is a raised mamilla with apparently a scolloped 

 margin " (Entom., 1901). The eggs from which this description was 

 made I saw laid in the flowers of Luzala. This I consider is not a 

 strictly flat egg but really intermediate between the flat and the up- 

 right. When lying lengthwise it looks like a fiat egg, but the two 

 shorter axes are equal, or nearly so. The ovum of caespiiitiella appears 

 to have made a slight advance towards the next type, as if I remember 

 correctly it has some surface sculpturing, but I can find no description, 

 and though I have a photograph of two kindly taken by Mr. Tonge, it 

 does not show sufficient detail, as the eggs were in very poor condition. 

 The two species last mentioned belong to the rush-feeding section, 

 which is probably the most ancient in the genus. In the next type 

 the micropylar end is truncated and the other, rather wider, is evenly 

 rounded. The micropyle lies in a shallow basin and is encircled by a 

 raised flange. Within the basin arise several ribs, which become very 

 strong as tbey run over the rim, and they with others run down the 

 walls of the egg and are crossed at right angles by raised lines. In 

 this type there is a definite surface sculpture, a id the moths thrust the 

 eggs into angles, as those formed by the mid rib of a leaf with the 

 lamina, or at the base of a leaf stalk. In the four species that I know 

 with this type of egg the larva on hatching leaves the egg and wanders 

 till it finds a suitable situation in which to commence its mine. The 

 species I have found to possess ova of this kind are fuscedinella, heinero- 

 biella, chqlcogram ut.ella, and discordella. 



In the third type we find, as in the ovum of grijpliipennella, a truly 

 upright egg. It is laid on the surface of the leaf of rose and is tall 

 nipple shaped, about one third higher than wide, widest at the base, 

 attenuated gradually to the rounded top where the micropyle lies. 

 About fifteen ribs run down the walls from the apex to the base and 

 about tAventy secondary ribs encircle the egg. The ovum of lineola is 

 very similar to this. It is laid also on the leaf of its food plants, and 

 the larva mines through the base of egg shell into the leaf. I believe 

 this habit obtains with all the species of this genus with upright eggs. 

 It is so with riniinetella, which lays a somewhat similar egiX to the last, 

 but it is not so tall. Very close to this is also the ovum of bicolordla, 

 obtained by Mr. H. J. Turner {tint. Hecord, vol. xxvi., pi. xxii.). Eather 

 wider and lower is the egg of ibipeivnella, Stainton (Proc. S.L.E.S., 

 19540, p. 70), laid on the leaf of birch, and lower still, with flatter ribs, 

 are the two very similar ova of jimioolella and laricella (Turner, Knt. 

 Record, vol. xviii., p. 121, and Tutt, Practical Hints, part iii., pi. 2, fig. 

 6). The former is laid on the leaf of Calhina, and the larva bores 

 through the egg shell into the leaf, while the latter is placed on a 

 needle of Larix,, and has probably the same larval habit. There is yet 

 another distinct form of ovum in this genus. We find solitariella has 



