126 [June, 



type specimen, Mr. Douglas having stated that the first place in the 



row was no guarantee, and the ten moths standing as " instahilella, 



Dgl.," represented three distinct species, for 



(a) Nos. 1, 5, 6 proved to be what is now recognised as Lita inatalilella. 

 (h) ,, 2, 7 „ „ Lita plantaginella. 



(c) „ 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 proved to be Lita salicornicp. 



(a) Last spring, however, it occurred to me that the one and only 

 insect to which the original description and figure could apply was a 

 scarce form of L. instahilella, for no known form of any of its allies 

 ever shows the combination of " a lighter transverse striga near the 

 apex," and " a line (i. e., a dark line, as shown in the woodcut) down 

 the centre." Having no recollection of the actual specimens, I there- 

 fore asked Mr. Mason for the loan of Nos. 1, 5, and 6 in the Douglas 

 series, and he obligingly sent me 1 and 5, but the third moth was 

 plantaginella, and I afterwards found out that he had accidentally 

 forwarded No. 7 instead of No. 6 ! No. 1 was, as expected, a splendid 

 example of the scarce, dark-streaked form of instahilella, and there 

 can be no doubt that, being the most strongly marked, it was taken as 

 the type, and described and figured in the Zoologist, which justifies 

 me in restricting the name to the species, of which this form is a 

 known variety. No. 5 and No. 6 (which I subsequently examined) 

 were ordinary streakless forms. To my great regret, Nos. 1, 5, and 

 7 were lost in the post on the return journey, so the type has dis- 

 appeared. 



{h) It is equally clear that when Mr. Douglas captured the original 

 specimens of instahilella, near St. Osyth, Essex, in July, 1845, he also 

 took at the same time examples of the then \i.xivecogms,Qdi plantaginella, 

 and considered them to be forms of the same variable insect, for, 

 apart from the fact that Nos. 2 and 7 in his series are that species, the 

 Zeller collection contains a typical plantaginella, received from the 

 late Mr. Stainton, whose own label it bears : — " Instahilella. 8alt 

 marshes, St. Osyth. One of Douglas' original specimens, captured 

 1845 ;" and in Professor Frey's collection there also stands a single 

 typical plantaginella, labelled : — " G. instahilella, Dougl. Petrophila, 

 ol. Frey. England (St. Osyth)." 



(c) In the I. B. Lep. Tin., p. 126 (1854), to his description of 

 ^' GelecJiia instahilella,''' Mr. Stainton adds : " Mr. Douglas bred this 

 species last autumn from larvae he found at Brighton, in August, 

 feeding on Salicornia herhacea and Chenopodium maritimum." This is 

 the first allusion to the species now recognised as Lita salicornice, 

 Hering, which alone feeds on both these plants, and is found on them 



