THE FUME A BETULINA OF BARRETT. 211 



What is the Fumea betulina of Barrett ? 



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



The Fameids fall into two very natural groups : (1) Fnmca, tha 

 larv;e of which cover their cas9s with pieces of straws arran'^ed lon^;!- 

 tudinally, and represented in ]>ritain by craxsi<)n'Ua, casta (niti-liila), 

 roborirolclla, iind sacicolrlla. (2j Proiitia, the larva; of which cover 

 their cases with pieces of leaf and bark placed irregularly, and repre- 

 sented in Britain by hHnHna and mlimlAla. (There is probably a third 

 species, males of which have not yet been obtained.) 



The limits of the British species of Fumea are none too well 

 known, but those of Proutia appear to have been complicated by 

 Barrett's reference, to />('f(f?/«(7, of an insect that does not satisfy Zeller's 

 original description of the latter species. It may be well to refer to 

 the original descriptions of these species before discussing the subject 

 indicated by the title of this article. 



(1) Proutia hstuUna, Zall., " Isis," 1839, p. 233.— Thsre is hgre at Glogan, in 

 a bireh-wDo:!, a sp3cie3 which, in th3 <i , is so like nitldeUa that I hxve hithei-to not 

 b:^e:i able to separate the two, but in th9 ? is dLst;ngLUsh3l by the almost snow- 

 white hvirs of the anal tnlt, wheve nitidella has them grey; but more essential 

 thin this is the fact that mv P. bctuJina differs in the larval case, which tapers 

 coaically behind, and instead of grass-stems is covered with roundeJl particles of 

 wli.te birch-bark and other leif-like sabstances, &c. 



(2) ProHtia saUcfllclla, JBruand, " Mon. Soc. Donbs," ii., livr. 1-2, pp. fio-GC) 

 (1845); "Mon. des Psych.," pp. lOJ-101 (1853).— Envergure du mile. 12-13mm. 

 Mas : Statura fere rohorkolcllae ; alis angustioribus, panlulo longioribus. Femina : 

 Crassiorellar, ne?iio:\ comit 'lla'j affinls, sei minor. Lxrva: Roboricoh'Uae vicina, 

 at malt) lu3id or. Involucrum ; Ut apud anlcani'llain [bstulinu), quisquilius 

 hgiosis vel c a-ticeis indutum. — Le male ressemble beaucoup ii celui de ^i/*/(/('//a 

 (Kc'pitiin), c'est-a-dire, qu'il est d'un brun-noiratre luisant, avec les ailes bien plus 

 allong 'es que rohoricolelhi, et meme que co)niteUa. II est un pen plus petit que 

 cette derui^re espeae, mais 11 a plus d'envergure que ro'ioricolella. Les antennes 

 sont tr^s-legerement pectinees. Jja femelle est extre-mement voisine de celles de 

 crassiorella et de comitclUi; elie est cependant im pen plus petite. ... La 

 touffe anale est d'un brun-jaunatre clair. La chenille de cette espt^ce vit sur le 

 saule-a-lier, dont elle mange le lichen ; son fourreau est reconvert de petits frag- 

 ments d'ecorce, de faille diverse et places irregulierement. Ce fourreau. un pen 

 resserre a Toverture, s'elargit legerement au milieu et se termine en pointe obtuse. 



Bruand redeseribed Zeller's Jictnlina under the name of anicandla 

 (referring to the former as a synonym) and insisted very strongly on 

 the character presented by the snow-white anal tuft of the female. 

 Mitford, who evidently knew both P. betulina and /'. mliadcUa, stated 

 {Knt. Mo. Mail., vi., pp. 94, 186) that Bruand's name of anicamila 

 was very suitable for the species as the $ has the anal tuft of a snowy 

 whiteness, whilst in the J of mlicoliila, tliis part is not so white, par- 

 ticularly beneath, but it has a white Idooni on the sides. He also 

 correctly dift'erentiates the males, stating that the fore-wings of aali- 

 I'oleUa are much elongated, whilst those of auirancUa. on the coiitrary. 

 resemble rather specimens of P. intfruwtUi'lla, kv. 



In the K)tt. Mo. Maif., xxx., p. 2()7, Barrett described hctalino, and 

 states that 2 specimens before liim had not " snowy-white tufts." 

 Evidently, as these specimens failed to agree with the original descrip- 

 tion of the species the logical conclusion was tluit the examples were not 

 Zeller's (and Bruand's) species. On p. 26H the same gentleman says 

 that three of Mitford's examples of mlicolclla (which are undoubtedly 

 mUcolella, Bruand, if they are those described Knt. Mo. Ma<j., vi., p. 



