350 



LEPIDOPTEKA. 



FiE 



\ 

 265. 



those that feed on seeds do so in the autumn and "winter." 

 The Angouaiois Grain moth, G. cerealella Linn. (Fig. 2G5), is 

 ochreous, with a fuscous streak towards the base, and a few 

 fuscous dots towards the tip of the wing, while the hind wings 

 are grayish ochreous. Tlie wings are sometimes unspotted. 

 It feeds in wheat granaries, where it secretes itself within 

 the grain, devouring the mealy substance. Reaumur, according 

 to Mr. Stainton, thus speaks of the econom}^ of material in the 

 food of the larva of Gelechia cerealella. "A grain of wheat 

 or of barley contains the precise quan- 

 tity of food necessar}?^ to nourish the 

 larva from its birth till it is full fed. 

 For if we open a grain inhabited b}^ 

 a younger and smaller larva, we find 

 that there is more or less of the sub- 

 stance of the grain still to be consumed, 

 according to the size of the larva. 

 But what is remarkable is, that in the latter case, we find 

 at least as much and probably more excrement, and in larger 

 pellets, than we find in a grain tenanted by an older larva." 

 It is thus driven to eat its excrement over once and perhaps 

 more than once ! We have received from Mr. F. G. Sanborn 

 the larva (Fig. 266, much enlarged) of this moth, which had 

 eaten out the kernel of grains of pai'ching corn, leaving but a 

 thin shell. The body is unusually short, thick and white, the 

 tegument being very thin and transparent. Gelechia fungivo- 



rella Clem, has roseate white 

 fore wings, dusted and banded 

 with brown. Walsh states that 

 "the larva mines a cabbage- 

 like gall (C. salicis-brassicoides). 

 Fig 266. peculiar to Salix longifolia, and 



a pine-cone-like gall on Salix cordata, named C. salieis-stro- 

 biloides by Osten Sacken." Tlie larva of a similar species, 

 G. roseosiiffusella, inhabits the fruit panicles of the sumach. 



Coleophora is a beautiful form, with long fringes to the 

 wings, which are long and lanceolate, especially the hinder pair. 

 The head is smooth above and in front, and the slender, simple 

 antennae are sometimes thickened with scales as far as then* 



