1891. i 191 



2. L. instahilella is distinguished by its more uniform appearance, seldom 

 broken except by the pale fascia which itself is occasionally obsolete, and by its 

 small black spots, which, however, are liable to disappear in part or in whole, and be 

 replaced by rust-brown. In general, all the fringes, and the costal margin of the 

 hind-wing towards the apex, are rather more ochreous, and less inclined towards 

 grey, than in the preceding, and the pale ochreous tinge in the fore- wings is much 

 more constant. 



3. L. oceUateUa is characterized by its bright ochreous fascia and inner margin, 

 and its conspicuous ocellated black spots. On the whole it is also noticeably smaller, 

 and less robust, than its nearest allies. The sexes differ considerably, the S s having 

 darker, and much less ochreous, as well as apparently rather narrower and more 

 pointed, fore-wings than the ? s. 



4. L. sucBdella, which is separated from all but plantaginella by the presence of 

 an oclireous inner-marginal vitta, combined with the absence of any pale fascia, is 

 more stoutly built and broader in the wing than that species, and has a brighter and 

 more attractive facies. I always notice a most striking distinction between them, in 

 all their ordinary forms, when the wings are closed j in sucedella, the pale thorax 

 lying between the darker patagia unites with the pale stripe presented by the two 

 overlapping inner-marginal vitles to form, together with the head, one conspicuous 

 and sharply-defined central ochreous stripe down the moth ; in plantaginella this is 

 never seen, for although the thorax matches the inner margin in colour, the patagia 

 are equally pale. Again, in sucedella the contrast between the dark upper part of 

 the wing and the pale inner-margin is, in general, much stronger than in plantu' 

 giirella, in wliich the two parts, though often separated by a similar dark streak, 

 approximate more nearly in colour. 



5. L. plantaginella, although most variable, may be recognised by the peculiar 

 streaked appearance of the pointed fore-wings, due to the presence of more or fewer 

 lines of pale scales, especially pronounced towards the apex ; it has a paler inner- 

 margin as a rule, but has no pale fascia. 



In his description of plantaginella (Ent. Mo. Mag., XIX, p. 253), Mr. Stainton 

 says that it is " a larger and broader-winged insect than instahilella." In any case 

 the comparison could not stand, because his " instahilella " (I. c.) is a mixture of the 

 four preceding species ; but, as to size, his remarks about the food-plant, and the 

 exp. al. tliat he gives, to say nothing of his cabinet series, prove that he only knew 

 the large salt-marsh form of plantaginella, and was unacquainted with the smaller 

 dry-ground form ; whilst, as regards breadth, the wings of plantaginella are visibly 

 narrower in proportion to their length than in those four insects. 



6. L. atriplicella is separated from the first four species by its slender build and 

 shape of wing, and from all the foregoing by its more sombre, unmarked facies. It 

 is however, particularly in its paler forms, continually mistaken for ohsoletella, 

 partly, no doubt, because in the " Manual," II, p. 340, it is emphasized as a char- 

 acteristic of ohsoletella tliat the " basal half of the abdomen " is " pale ochreous," 

 and no mention is made of the fact that atriplicella, as a rule, has the basal half of 

 the abdomen ochreous or pale ochreous ; of both species individuals occur in wliicli 

 this part is not ochreous at all. 



In the open country, atrijjlicella is commonly pale greyish-bruwii, more or 



