MICJROPTERYX ARUNCELLA. 149 



iiber 5,000' (Bergli- unci Miihlebachalp), in noch bedeutenderer 

 Elevation auf denjenigen des Engadin, so Alp Murailg und der 

 Celeriner Alp bei Samaden bis gegen 7,000' " (Die Tincen, etc., pp. 48- 

 49). Constant possesses it from Burgundy, Wiirtemburg and Prussia. 

 It has also been recorded from Anhalt, Frankfort, Galicia, Nassau, 

 Croatia, Tyrol, Carinthia, Hamburg and Brandenburg ; Liguria, Pied- 

 mont and Lombardy ; Saone-et-Loire, Indre ; Riga, St. Petersburg; 

 Scania, Bahusia, Ostrogothia ; Attica. 



micropteryx seppella, Fab. (? var. praec. sp.). 



Synonymy.— Species : Seppella^mh., " Gen. Ins.," p. 296 (1777) ; " Ent. Syst.," 

 3, 2, p. 320, No. 144 ; Haw., " Lep. Brit.," $ , p. 573 ; Stphs., " Illus.," iv., p. 362 ; 

 Wood, " Index," 1601 ; Stainton, " Mon.," p. 39; "Ins. Brit.," p. 43; "Man.," 

 ii., p. 303 ; H.-Sch., " Sys. Bear.," v., p. 391 ; Stdgr. and Wocke, " Cat.," p. 340. 

 Podevinella, Tr., " Die Schmett.," ix., 2, 119* ; Dup., "Hist. Nat.," xi., pi. 302, 

 fig. 5, p. 399; ? Hb., " Samm. Eur.," 342. ? Eximiella, Zell., " Stett. Ent. Zeit.," 

 1850, p. 62 ; " Linn. Ent.," v., p. 328. Aruncella, Sta., " Cat. Tin.," p. 9 ; " Trans. 

 Ent. Soc. Lond.," 1850, pp. 29-30, PI. iii., fig. 5, (corrected) Ibid., p. 39; Snellen, 

 " Vlinders,'' etc., p, 1066 (in part); Meyrick, " Handbook," etc., p. 806 (in part). 

 Galthella, Haw., ''Lep. Brit.," iv. (/3. ? = seppella), p. 573; ? , Bentley, "Zool.," 

 vol. iii., 1086. 



Original description. — Tinea alis auratis : strigis duabus argenteis. 

 Minuta. Corpus nigrum antennis brevibus. Abe antics auratfe, 

 nitidaa strigis duabus rectis argenteis. Posticse auro nitidre. Habitat 

 in Anglia, Dom. Yeats (Fabricius, Genera Insectorum, p. 296). 



^There can be no doubt about this species being British, and until 

 it has been proved that the British bifasciate seppella = the Carniolian 

 unifasciate aruncella, the species should stand] . 



Imago. — Fore-wings 7-8 mm. ; shiny, golden green, with the base of 

 the costa purple ; in the $ with two, pale, silvery fascirc, one in the 

 middle of the wing, the other nearer the base, there is also a pale 

 silvery spot towards the apex, and not far from the costa. Hind- 

 wings grey, with the apical half tinged with purplish. 



Sexual dimorphism. — The anterior wings of the female are golden- 

 brown, the costa at the base purplish, and with none of the pale 

 markings that distinguish the male. The female much resembles 

 21. caltliella, but, independently of the wings not being sulcate, as in 

 the latter, the base of the anterior wings is never purple to the inner 

 margin as in that species, but only a little way from the costa. 



Comparison of $ M. seppella with $ M. aruncella. — Stainton, 

 who received specimens from Zeller, which the latter considered to be 

 M. aruncella {vide, Monograph, etc., p. 40), says that the anterior wings 

 of M. seppella $ are narrower and greener than those of M. aruncella 

 $ . This is a structural character, apart from the fact that M. 

 aruncella is an unifasciate, and M. seppella a bifasciate, species. 



Variation. — There is some variation in the basal fascia and outer 

 costal spot. Richardson says : " The costal mark near the apex of the 

 fore-wing is distinctly traceable in all my male specimens, though it 

 varies somewhat in intensity " (in litt.). By Stainton, the basal fascia is 

 described as a transverse silvery spot which reaches neither margin. 

 He also states that it is often no easy matter to see the silvery spot on 

 the costa towards the apex in some specimens, and he took a specimen 

 entirely destitute of it. Bankes says : " Forms of that species (seppella) 



* Stainton says: "Podevinella, Tr., which Zeller gives as a synonym of 

 aruncella is most certainly seppella." 



