NEPTlCULA DESPERATELLA. 215 



reaches its greatest height towards what is the slightly broader end of 

 the cocoon. The cocoon proper is comparatively smooth, of a bright 

 orange-red colour, which is quite brilliantly orange in some parts, 

 and in some lights. The surface of the cocoon is finely reticulated 

 with dark red. The cocoon proper is invested in a loose, flossy 

 coating of orange coloured silk, which, along the flange, forms what 

 can best be described as a belt of gold. The inside of the cocoon ap- 

 pears, to be smooth and exceedingly shiny. [Described June 16th, 

 1898, under a two-thirds lens, from cocoons sent by Dr. Wood.] The 

 empty pupa-case is left projecting from what is, perhaps, the rather 

 broader end of the cocoon. It is quite transparent, exceedingly thin, 

 with a faint grey-green tint, and a few greyish markings on the 

 thoracic segments. Frey writes : " Der Cocon istlanglich rund, glatt, 

 ziemlich abgeplattet und von einer lebhaft braunrothen Farbe." 

 Nolcken says : " Die flach eiformigen, sehr dunkelbraunen Cocons 

 waren theils an den Sand des Behalters, theils an Blatter angesponnen." 



Food-plant. — Wild apple (Pyrus malm). The larva is generally 

 found on the smallest (and youngest) wild apple bushes, often in 

 prodigious numbers ; all the leaves appearing brown from the mines 

 of these larvae, of which Frey has found more than a dozen in one 

 leaf. He adds, that though he bred the insect freely he never saw 

 a single imago at large. 



Time of appearance. — The species is single-brooded, the larvre 

 appearing from the end of August to the beginning of October, and 

 producing moths during the first fortnight of June. Nolcken found 

 larva? on October 3rd, 1865, and August 26th, 1866, at Pichtendahl. 



Localities. — Herefokd: Tarrington, local, apparently confined to one 

 wood, and refusing to attack the wild apple in adjoining hedges (Wood). Lanca- 

 shire : Grange (Threlfall). Norfolk: King's Lynn, extremely local (Atmore). 

 Westmorland : Windermere (Hodgkinson). 



Distribution. — France : Nohaut (Sand). Germany : Alsace (Pey- 

 erimhoff), Breslau, Hanover, ? Hamburg (Sorhagen). Russia : Pich- 

 tendahl (Nolcken). Switzerland : near Zurich (Frey). 



nepticula tille, Frey. 



Synonymy. — Species : Tiliae, Frey, " Die Tineen," etc., p. 375 (1856) ; " Linn, 

 Ent.," xi., p. 381 (1857) ; Sta., " Ent. Ann.," 1860, p. 136 ; •■ Nat. Hist. Tin.," vii., 

 p. 168, pi. viii., fig. 2 (1862); Staud. and Wocke, " Cat.," p. 335 (1871) ; Hein., 

 "Wien. Monats.," vii., pp. 241 and 246 (1862); Hein. and Wocke, " Schmett. 

 Deutsch.," p. 734 (1877) ; Sand, " Cat. Lep. Auv.," p. 200 (1879) ; Peyer., 

 " Cat. Lep. Als.," 2nd Ed., p. 165 (1882) ; Sorhagen, " Die Kleinschmett. Branden- 

 burg," p. 303 (1886) ; Meyrick, " Handbook," etc., p. 715 (1895). 



Original description. — N. tiliae, n. sp. Capillis atris, antennarum 

 conchula (g magna) flavido-alba ; alis anter. saturate fusco-reneis, 

 apice violaceo-purpureo, ciliis fusco-griseis 2J-2'" . Der vorigen Art, 

 namentlich dunklen, schwarzkopfigen Exemplaren der A T . anomahlla, 

 so nahe verwandt, dasswohl nur durch die Erziehnng vollige Sicherheit 

 zu gewinnen ist. Als Merkmale gelten die beim Mannchen sehr 

 ansehnlichen, heller gelblichweissen Augendeckel, welche grosser sind 

 als bei N. anomdlella, so dass dadurch der sclnvarze Schopf schmaler 

 erscheint, wahrend die des weiblichen Thieres beider Arten sich gleich 

 verhalten ; ferner die etwas dunklere Bronzefarbe der Vorderfliigel, 

 an welchen ich bei meinen sieben Stiicken keine Aufhellung nach der 

 Mittte hin zu bemerken vermag. Das beste Merkmal bildet aber die 



