250 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Food-plant. — Poierium sanguisorba. 



Time of appearance. — The species appears to be double-brooded. 

 Stainton observed that early June larvae produced imagines in late 

 June and early July. One date given by Stainton for the larva is 

 June 12th, 1857, at Mickleham ; he bred imagines from June 25th- 

 July 1st, 1857, from the Mickleham larvae. 



Localities. — Dorset : Portland, common locally (Eichardson). Lancashire : 

 Arnside (Threlfall), Grange and Preston (Hodgkinson). Surrey: Mickleham 

 (Stainton). Sussex: Worthing Downs, very local (Fletcher). Westmorland: 

 (Hodgkinson) . 



Distribution. — The species is unknown on the Continent. 



NEPTICULA FILIPENDULAE, 



Wocke 



Synonymy.— Species : Filipendulae, Staud. and Wocke, "Catalog.," p. 338 

 (1871); Hein. and Wocke, " Schmett. Deutsch.," p. 749 (1877); Sorhagen, " Die 

 Kleinschmett. Brandg.," p. 346 (1886) ; Fletcher, " Trans, Chich. and West Sussex 

 Nat. Hist. Soc," 1886, no. 5; Bankes, " Entom.," xxvii., p. 345; Ibid., xxix.,p. 

 187 ; Meyrick, " Handbook," p. 718, in part (1895). 



Original description. — Prsecedenti (N. geminella) valde affinis. 

 Alis ant. aureo-brunneis versus apicem vix violaceo infusis, fascia post 

 medium recta argentea nitida, capillis ferrugineis, conchulis flaves- 

 centibus. Exp. alar. 3J-8f mm.— Larva succinea, capite fuscescenti, 

 in foliolis Spireae filipendulae marginem sequens vitam degit (Wocke, 

 Catalog der Lep. des Eur. Faunengebiets, p. 338). 



Imago. — Head dull ochreous. Anterior wings 4 mm. ; purplish- 

 bronzy at base ; a broad, shining, silvery (or pale-golden) transverse 

 fascia considerably beyond the centre ; apex purple ; cilia blackish grey, 

 with paler tips. Posterior wings grey (sparsely covered with purple 

 and bronzy scales in bright light) ; apex darker ; cilia concolorous 

 with the wings. [The colour of the transverse band is distinctly 

 silvery in two of the specimens examined, pale golden in the others.] 



Comparison of Nepticula filipendulae with N. poterii. — Seen 

 in series, N. filipendulae appears to have a brighter fascia than N. 

 poterii, and when examined with a strong lens, the former is seen to 

 have the ground colour darker, thus making a greater contrast with 

 the fascia (Fletcher). 



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

 generally on the margin. 



Mine. — The first part of the mine is very slender, and runs in and 

 out the serrations of the leaflet, keeping close to the outer edge. In 

 this part of the mine, the black frass occupies almost the whole of the 

 gallery. The mine in its second part gets somewhat suddenly larger, 

 the frass occupying the central area, sometimes forming a dense 

 central thread, at others, being more diffusively spread, and a wide pale 

 margin edging each side. The last part of the mine is similar to the 

 second, except that it is still wider, and terminates in a small blotch, 

 extending as far as the larva can reach, and without any frass in it. 

 In the last part of the mine (excluding the blotch) the frass pellets are 

 much more diffusively spread in the central line. When a leaflet is 

 small the larva often doubles back upon its previous course, the greater 



* It is doubtful whether Wocke's reference to the " preceding species " is not 

 intended to refer to N. poterii. He marks N. geminella (the species preceding N. 

 filipendulae in his Catalog., etc.), as one of the species that he has not seen, and he 

 could hardly describe a new species by means of its resemblance to another 

 species which he had not seen. 



