Mining Micro-Lepidopterous Larva, 609 



gella and Micropteryx, we do not find even such ventral projec- 

 tions as occur in Nepticula. The larvae in all these genera remain 

 miners during their whole lives, and never quit one mine to enter 

 another; in the three first-named genera the full-fed larva cuts 

 out an oval case, in which it descends to the surface of the ground, 

 and in which it undergoes its transformation to the pupa state — 

 but though the structure and habits of these larvae are so very 

 similar, their mines have distinctive characters and can be in- 

 stantly recognized. An Antispila larva never commences its 

 mine with a slender gallery, from the very first it has the form of 

 a blotch, whereas the mine of Tinea bistrigella commences with a 

 very long and slender gallery, which is generally nearly two inches 

 in length before the blotch portion of the mine is commenced ; the 

 mine of a Tinagma, on the other hand, has a character peculiarly 

 its own, the greater portion of it being in the interior of the mid- 

 rib of the leaf, and hence invisible, so that we see only the inci- 

 pient very slender mine of the young larva, and a small blotch 

 formed by the larva when just full fed, previous to cutting out its 

 case ; at present only one larva of this genus is known to us, 

 T'magma resplendellum, which feeds on alder leaves, but it is 

 hoped that others will soon be discovered ; in the perfect state, 

 T. sericiellum and T. Stanneellum both frequent oaks, and Pro- 

 fessor Frey informs me that he once found an oak leaf from which 

 an oval case had been cut out near the midrib. The larvae of 

 Micropteryx do not cut out cases ; when full fed they crawl out 

 of the mines and descend to the ground, where they construct 

 cocoons covered with grains of earth and sand ; their mines how- 

 ever are readily recognized by the form of the excrement, which, 

 instead of being in little round grains, is in short lengths like 

 pieces of black thread ; the mines of some of these larvae, when 

 young, can hardly be distinguished from the mines of Nepticula, 

 and this resemblance is rather remarkable when we bear in mind 

 that in the structure of the heads of the perfect insect and in the 

 neuration of the wings there is a wonderful similarity between 

 Nepticula and Micropteryx. 



There are a few other genera in which mining larvae occur, but 

 I have not wished to swell out these remarks, by introducing 

 every individual genus in which examples of mining larvae are to 

 be met with — such as Stephensia Brunnichiella, Slagmatophora 

 Heydeniella, Asychna terminella, Chrysoclysta Schrankella (in habit 

 not distinguishable from a Laverna), Cliauliodus Cheer ophyllellus 



