200 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Original description. — We have been quite unable to get the 

 original description by Glitz. There appears to be no copy of the 

 Jahresbericht der naturh. (resell, zu Hannover in the London libraries, 

 and a reference in Sorhagen's Die Rleinschmett. der Mark Brandenburg, 

 p. 303, where he writes : " Beschr. Glitz, I. c. 47, mid Jahresbericht, etc., 

 1865, 42," suggests an earlier note. To what the " I. c." refers, how- 

 ever, we are utterly unable to say. Frey, who describes the species 

 in 1870, calls it " N. pyri, Glitz, in litt." His description reads as 

 follows: — " N. pyri, Glitz, in litt. — -Der JV. minusculella, H.-S., 

 verwandt, aber grosser, kraftiger gebaut, mit breiteren Fliigeln und 

 anders gefarbtem Schopf. Grosse der N. catharticella, Sta., oder 

 N. tiliae, Frey. Scheitelhaare hoch orangeroth, Augendeckel gelblich- 

 weiss ; die ziemlich kurze Fiihlergeisel schwarzlich grau ; Taster 

 hellgrau ; Brust oberwarts tiefdunkel bronzebrauii, Leib schwarzlich, 

 Beine grau, Hintertarsen ganz hellgrau, fast grauweiss. Die iiber 

 den grosseren Theil ihrer Flache niassig erglanzenden Vorderfliigel 

 besitzen als Grundfarbe ein dunkles bronzeartiges Braun. Meisteus 

 pflegt die Wurzel dunkler als das mehr messingartig schimmernde 

 Mittelfeld auszufallen ; doch kann das Colorit des Vorderfliigels bis 

 zum Spitzentheile hin gleichartig sich zeigen. Bei gewissen Beleuch- 

 tungen erhalt man einen blaulichen Glanz der Schuppchen. Ganz 

 dunkel braunschwarzundmitsebrlebhaft blauglanzender Beschuppung 

 erscheint aber der Spitzentheil des Vorderfliigels. Die Franzen 

 hellgrau, gegen den Afterwinkel hin dunkler. Hinterfliigel und 

 Franzen dunkelgrau " (Frey, Sclnreiz. Ent. Gesellschaft, 1870, p. 289). 



Imago. — Head reddish. Anterior wings 4-5 mm. ; inner two-thirds 

 fuscous, with a golden-brown gloss, the outer third purple, the junction 

 of the two being sharply defined and concave in outline, owing to the 

 purple extending along both margins, especially the costal one ; cilia 

 dark grey, deeper at the anal angle. Posterior wings and cilia dark grey. 



Egg-laying. — The egg is laid on the upperside of a leaf of pear, 

 nine times out of ten (Wood). 



Mine.— The mine is narrow, small and cramped, and placed either 

 on the upper or underside of a pear leaf, with a very decided preference 

 for the former (Wood thinks that it is due to the fouling of the upper- 

 surface with honey-dew, that sometimes drives it to the lower surface). 

 The convolutions show a general tendency to keep close together, but 

 occasionally they run together so as to form a blotch, and then the 

 frass, which is generally coiled with regularity, tends to become rather 

 slovenly arranged. 



Larva. — The larva is bluish-green in colour ; the head very pale ; 

 the hind portion of the abdominal canal red ; the cephalic ganglia 

 and ventral cord invisible ; legs well developed. The larva mines 

 with its dorsum upwards. Both the larva and the mine are with difficulty 

 to be distinguished from those of N. oxyacanthella. The red intestinal 

 canal of A T . pyri, however, forms a good distinction between it and the 

 larva of A T . oxyacanthella, which has a yellow intestinal canal. 

 Sorhagen describes the larva as follows: "Die Kaupe 9-10 und 

 seltener 7 (Juli) in den Blattern des wilden und cultivirten Birnbaums, 

 in jenem haufiger. Gangmine schwach gewunden, anfangs sehrfein, 

 in den 2 letzten Drittheilen breiter, mit der Kothlinie in der Mitte." 



Comparison of the mines of N. pyri and N. minusculella. — It is 

 not always easy to discriminate between the mines of N. pyri and A r . 



