130 BRITISH LEPIDOPTKKA. 



under the name of Eriocephala, and cited " calthella " as the type. This, 

 of course, made Eriocephala, Curt. = Micropterix, Hb. for Stephens (1835) 

 had constituted calthella tpye of Micropteryx. The name Eriocephala was 

 maintained in 1850 by Stainton, in his paper entitled " A monograph 

 of the British species of the genus Micropteryx of Zeller," the species 

 then included in the genus Eriocephala being the six now known as 

 British, viz., calthella, aruncella, seppella, aureatella {allionella) , 

 thunberyella {i-ubrifasciella) , and mansuetella. Stainton, however, de- 

 scribes (p. 27) seppella as aruncella, correcting this error, and adding 

 the true aruncella in a " Supplemental note " (p. 39). He also included 

 Phylloporia bistrigella {Tinea subammanella) in the genus. 



Stainton's diagnoses (corrected) of the species of this genus read 

 as follows : — 



I. Head ferruginous. 



1. — Calthella. — Anterior wings golden-green, with the base entirely purple. 

 2. — Seppella. — ¥ Anterior wings golden-green, with the base purple on the 



eosta. <? Anterior wings golden-green, with two silvery fascise 



and a small silver costal spot towards apex. 

 3. — Aruncella. — ? Anterior wings golden-brown, with the costa at the base 



purple. <? Anterior wings golden-brown, with a faint silvery 



spot near base, and one slender silvery fascia. 

 4. — Aureatella. — Anterior wings purple, with two golden fascise, and a golden 



spot towards the apex, reaching neither margin. 

 5. — Thunbergella. — Anterior wings greenish-golden, with a reddish spot on 



the costa at the base, a reddish fascia before the middle, and 



another bifurcate one beyond the middle. 



II. Head blue-black. 



6. — Mansuetella. — Anterior wings greenish-golden, with three very indistinct 

 reddish fascise. 



Zeller, in 1851, maintained the original use of the generic name 

 Micropteryx, and included [Linn. Entomologica, v., pp. 322-3) in this 

 genus — calthella, aruncella, eximiella, myrtetella, paykullella, allionella, 

 subammanella, rubrifasciella, aglaella, and mansuetella ; whilst he placed 

 the " purpurella group" in the newly-created subgenus Eriocrania, 

 evidently on the ground that Hiibner's Micropteryx and Curtis' 

 Eriocephala are identical, as indeed they are. This division is main- 

 tained by Snellen in De Vlinders van Nederland, 1882, pp. 1065 et seq. 



Kirby properly sinks {Lloyd's Nat. Hist., Lep., v., p. 315) Erioce- 

 phala, Curt., as a synonym of Micropteryx, Hb., but says that the type 

 of the latter is aureatella, a species not included in Hiibner's genus. 

 Following Stephens, it is evident that " calthella" should be the type 

 of Micropteryx and " purpurella " of Eriocrania, Zell. It is quite clear, 

 therefore, that Meyrick's use of the name Eriocephala for the former 

 group, and Micropteryx for the latter, is erroneous. In this work then 

 we shall use the name Micropterygides to include calthella, seppella, 

 aruncella, aureatella, mansuetella and thunbergella. We shall also use 

 the name Eriocraniides for purpurella, subpurpurella, semipurpurella, 

 sparrmanella, unimaculella, salopiella, sanyii, etc. 



Our knowledge of the Micropterygides is derived almost entirely 

 from Walter and Chapman, the former of whom first made known the 

 remarkable structure of the headparts of the imago, whilst the latter 

 worked out their life-history, and has told us all that is yet known of 

 their early stages. To Packard is due, in large measure, the assertion 

 of the great value of the facts that Walter and Chapman made known. 



* Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1850, pp. 26 et seq. 



