1887.] ]05 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW QELi:CHIA OF THE " LITA" GROUP, 

 CLOSELY ALLIED TO G. MACULE A. 



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



Gelechia (Lita) blandulella, n. sp. 



Expanse, 4 — 4i"'. Palpi whitish-grey, thickened towards the base, -widely 

 separated, curved upwards for more than half their length ; antennse white with 

 fuscous rings throughout their entire length ; head white ; thorax white, freckled 

 with a very few pale grey scales ; abdomen white, freckled a little more thickly than 

 the thorax, giving it a slightly darker appearance. 



Anterior-wings — ground colour very pure white, with a few greyish scales near 

 the base, where a slender black line is sometimes noticeable ; at about one-third 

 from the base a dark fuscous (black on the edge of the costa) streak, slanting 

 towards the centre of the wing, terminated at the median nervure, and showing a 

 faint trace, when it reaches the median nervure, of being turned back on the costa, 

 so as to form a letter V, the exterior side of which is nearly invisible ; parallel with 

 the hind margin the white ground colour shows up as a slender, distinct, once- 

 angulated, white fascia, being shaded on either side with fuscous scales, which are 

 more thickly sprinkled on the costa ; at the apex of the wing there is often a distinct 

 dark dot ; on the centre of the disk three dark dots, one just exterior to the dark 

 streak, and two nearly in the centre of the wing (the three being in the same straight 

 line), the two latter are sometimes joined to form a short streak. In a few specimens 

 the oblique line is obsolete, and represented only as a dot on the median nervure. 

 Posterior-wings pale, shiny grey, paler at the base ; cilia on both anterior and 

 posterior-wings the same colour as the hind-wings. Under-side of an unicolorous 

 pale whitish-grey ; tarsi white. 



Time of appearance, from end of July to the middle of August. 



This insect closely resembles GelecTiia {Lita) maculea, but the 

 great difference in size at once distinguishes it. The markings, too, 

 are slightly different. In maculea I find that when the oblique line 

 reaches the fold, it is sometimes carried for a short distance along the 

 central neryure somewhat like the letter L, with no trace of an upward 

 tendency, while in hlandulella the black mark is (if continued) sharply 

 angulated and carried faintly upwards to meet the costa, thus forming 

 a V mark. In maculea, too, the pale fascia shows a decided tendency 

 to double angulation ; in hlandulella the angulation is always single. 

 In maculea there is no trace of the slender black line noticeable in 

 some specimens of hlandulella. 



Mr. Stainton, who has proposed for this insect the name hlan- 

 dulella, suggested that I should describe the species under that name, 

 hlandella being a synonym of maculea ; he has also pointed out that 

 the hind margin of hlandulella is rounder than in maculea. 



