1888.] G3 



DESCRIPTION OP A SPECIES OF EPISCHNIA (BANKESIELLAJ 

 NEW TO SCIENCE, FEOM PORTLAND. 



BY NELSON" M. RICHARDSON, B.A. 



About the middle of July, 1887, Mrs. Kichardson and I each took 

 at Portland, on the same evening, a specimen of one of the Phycidee, 

 which we did not recognise, and which has turned out to be not only 

 new to Britain, but also to science. 



I first sent the moths (a $ and ? ) to Mr. Stainton, who has most 

 kindly helped me to identify my specimens on several occasions, but 

 he returned them as being unknown to him. I then sent them to 

 Mr. C. G-. Barrett, who has also assisted me before in the sane way, 

 but he also failed to recognise them, telling me, however, that they 

 came near to Epischnia prodromella. He kindly offered to send one 

 of my specimens to M. Bagonot, at Paris, which offer I gladly accepted ; 

 a short time ago M. Bagonot returned it to Mr. Barrett, saying that, 

 in his opinion, it was new to science. 



I am sorry to say that I have taken no more specimens this 

 season, and as the male which was taken last year was worn, showing 

 that it had been out for some time, I do not think that I am likely to 

 come across it until next year at all events. 



The moth may be described as follows : — 



The expansion of the wings in the ? is 1" V" ; in the male it is slightly less. 

 The breadth of the fore-wings is almost exactly one-third of the length. The costa 

 in the male is regularly curved ; in the female it is much curved at the base, and 

 less so near the tip, whilst the intermediate portion is nearly straight. The tip is 

 blunt, and the hind margin convex. The colour of the fore-wings is light cinereous- 

 grey, clouded with dark grey, especially on the basal half of the wing. There is an 

 inconspicuous, narrow, light greyish-ochreous patch extending about one-third of 

 the way along the inner margin. The veins are streaked with dark grey. Several 

 dark grey lines cross the wing from the costa to the inner margin, but they are all 

 very indistinct, and only traceable with difficulty, owing to the wings being clouded 

 with the same colour. ' The most distinct are two lines, one of which starts from 

 the costa near the middle, and runs towards the anal angle as far as the centre of 

 the wing, where it turns nearly at right angles towards the base, and when at a Bhort 

 distance from the inner margin, turns again at right angles before it reaches it. 

 This line is double at the costa, and the two branches gradually approach each 

 other and meet on the inner margin. The other line is one which runs from the 

 costa near the tip, parallel to the hind margin, to a point near the anal angle, where 

 it turns sharply outwards to the anal angle. There are slight traces of two other 

 lines, one between the two above mentioned, and one near the base, but it is difficult 

 to follow their course, owing to the clouding of the wing. 



A patch of the pale ground colour, less clouded than the rest, extends obliquely 

 from the tip to the inner margin. The fringes are of the pale ground-colour, inter- 

 sected by a dark grey line. 



The hind-wings are very pale brownish-grey, with a darker shade close to the 

 margin, the fringes still paler, almost white. 



