148 [Jui^C' 



It will be seen that the genus, in spite o£ its small size, is very 

 difficult to deal with ; it is quite probable that I am wrong in my 

 determinations, and I shall be very much obliged if any person who 

 has worked the genus will give me the benefit of his experience 

 regarding it ; the chief difficulty lies in collecting together sufficient 

 material to work upon, as the species are so very scarce, and I doubt 

 whether any British collector has had the opportunity of examining 

 as many specimens as I have been enabled to get together ; and yet I 

 feel very doubtful how to separate them, and am not sure whether 

 S. Heichei, as above defined, may not ultimately prove to be synony- 

 mous with the succeeding species. 



Lincoln : 3Iaj/ 6th, 1890. 



A FURTHER CHAPTER IN THE LIFE- HISTORY OF MICROPTERYX. 

 BY JOHN H. WOOD, M.B. 



The egg-laying of Micropterijx was so unsatisfactorily dealt with 

 in my former notes — the only point then ascertained being the fact 

 that the egg could not be found by the closest search on the surface 

 of the leaf — that its solution became a matter for special investigation 

 this spring. The result has been so startling, and has opened up at 

 the same time so wide an enquiry — for other genera have been found 

 to lay their eggs in the same way —that it seems advisable to draw 

 immediate attention to the subject, and not wait till the exact limits 

 of the habit have been ascertained, or the minute and complicated 

 anatomy connected with it is completely worked out ; and there is the 

 greater reason for this, because I feel that the solution of the latter 

 part of the problem requires the skill of a more practised microscopist 

 than I can pretend to be. Under these circumstances I will now 

 merely give an outline of the facts and processes observed, and in a 

 subsequent paper the anatomical details, so far as I have been able to 

 elucidate them, aided by the suggestions and criticisms of my valued 

 friend Dr. Chapman. 



The extraordinary fact, then, that has come to light is, that ^i- 

 cropteryx lays her egg like a snivfly wituin the substance of the 



LEAF. 



Several fruitless visits had been made to a sunny spot where I 

 knew, from the number and variety of the mines in the previous 

 summer, that the moths ought to be abundant ; but it was not till 



