638 Mr. H. T. Stainton on the 



Classification of the Tineidae" in Oken's " Isis." Hii'oner's figure 

 cannot be referred with certainty to any of our present species. 



Haworth, in the fourth part of his " Lepidoptera Britannica," 

 published in 1829, described one of this genus under the name 

 of Gracillaria Ex'imia, at page 532, thus — 



*' G. (The Nonpareil) alis anticis aurantio, aureo, cupreo, atro, 

 violaceoque variis splendidissimis. 



Habitat in Sepimentis prope Londinum, at rarissime, 



Expansio alarum 5 lin. 



Descriptio. Species formosissima. Alse antics nitidissimae, 

 basi fascia latissima mutabili, nunc aurea nunc atra, et atro 

 alte terminata. Tunc in medio fascia trigona latior ad costam, 

 saturatissimfe aurantia, solidissima, utraque marginata striga 

 tenui atra, et fasciola mutabili, nunc latissime aurea, cuprei, 

 rubro-cuprea, violaceave. Pone has alae aterrimae, stria 

 splendidissima, mutabili, marginis tenuioris, usque ad apicem, 

 nunc cseruleo-argentea, violaced, vel auro-violascente, ciliis 

 profundis nigris. Posticse fuscae, nitidae, ciliis profundissimis 

 fuscis." 



Haworth certainly appears to have been enraptured with the 

 insect he was describing ; but it is impossible to decide, from the 

 above description, to which species it should be restricted. He 

 says that the base of the anterior wings has " a very broad change- 

 able fascia, now gold, now black," which does not agree with any 

 known species ; and of the apical streak he says it goes from the 

 inner margin to the apex, which, if rigorously interpreted, must 

 be held to imply an uninterrupted streak. 



Up to the year 1860 but one species was known in our collec- 

 tions as the Exim'ia of Haworth, but in 1860 another closely-allied 

 species was detected in the collections of Mr. Brown and Mr. 

 Farren, and in that of the British Museum. We have, however, 

 no record that any of these specimens occurred near London ; 

 and as the species most generally known to British collectors 

 occurs freely in several localities round London, it seems natural 

 to conclude, that that is in fact the Eximia of Haworth. 



Li 1834, Stephens, in his "Illustrations" (Haust. iv. 273) copied 

 Haworth's diagnosis, and translated his description as follows : — ■ 



" Anterior wings very glossy ; the base with a very broad, 

 changeable fascia, in some directions of light golden, in others 

 black, and terminated by a deep black margin ; in the middle is 

 a large, broader, trigonal, deep-bright-orange fascia, edged on each 

 side with a narrow black streak, and a variable band, being either 



