254 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



sehr dicht schwarzbraun ; die im Hinterwinkel ziemlich lang, weisslich- 

 grau. Der Hinterfliigel und ihre Franzen weisslichgrau (Von dieser a. 

 sind die 2 miriiberlassenen Exemplare). Diese Art mochte am bestendie 

 Hulmerella, Hbn. 236, darstellen " (Zeller, Linnaea Entomologica, iii., 

 pp. 310-311). The Continental authorities, on the other hand, do not 

 accept this description, and refer to Stainton as the nomenclator of the 

 species. His description reads as follows : Gratiosella, Dup., Supp., 72, 4 

 (not 5); Mann, in litt.; $ Aurella, Zell., 306?— Much smaller than 

 aurella. Head black : the fascia placed immediately before the violet apex, 

 and perpendicular : basal portion of the wing entirely golden. Frequents 

 hawthorn in April and May, flying in the sunshine like gnats" 

 (Stainton, Syst. Cat. of Brit. Tineidae and Pterophoridae, p. 29). In 

 1854, Stainton diagnosed the species, and queried the reference to 

 Duponchel, as follows : " N. gratiosella, Sta., Cat., p. 29 (1849) ; 

 ?Dup.— Alis anticis dilute aureo-brunneis, postice violaceis, fascia fere 

 recta pone medium caerulescente-argentea ; capillis atris. Exp: al. 

 2 lin. Head and face black. Palpi whitish. Antennae dark fuscous ; 

 basal joint white. Anterior wings pale golden brown, with a nearly 

 straight bluish-silvery fascia beyond the middle, the apex of the wing 

 violet ; cilia fuscous. Posterior wings grey with paler cilia. The 

 larva is one of the yellowish larvae which mine the leaves of hawthorn 

 in autumn " (Insecta Britannica, p. 305). 



Imago. — Head black. Anterior wings 4-5 mm. : pale golden brown 

 in colour ; an almost straight bluish-silvery fascia beyond the middle ; 

 tip of the wing violet ; cilia fuscous. Posterior wings grey, cilia paler. 



Comparison of N. gratiosella with N. ignobilella. — Much con- 

 fusion has existed between N. gratiosella and N. ignobilella, (owing 

 to errors in Stainton 's Manual), but these were cleared up by Wood 

 (Ent. Mo. Mag., xxx., p. 47). He writes: " Threlfall suggested 

 that N. gratiosella and N. ignobilella were the sexes of one and the 

 same species, subsequently my own experience in breeding N. ignobilella 

 appeared to confirm his view. From yellow larvae collected in the 

 autumn, and carefully separated from the only two other yellow larvae, 

 viz., N. regiella and N. pygmaeella, that could be found on the haw- 

 thorn {gratiosella, let it be remembered, was said to have a yellow 

 larva, and to feed in the autumn), I bred a long series of the perfect 

 insect, some with red heads and some with black, and as the former 

 were all males and the latter females, they could clearly be nothing 

 more than the sexes of one species, and N. gratiosella as a species 

 seemed doomed. It was not, then, till the question arose as to what 

 the green oxyacanthella-like larvae, feeding in July and August, could 

 be, and until moths were reared from them which answered accurately 

 to the description of N. gratiosella, that its position was restored. 

 The diagnosis in the Manual, ii., p. 437, is perfect, so far as the imago 

 goes. It is a smaller insect than N. ignobilella, with the head black 

 in both sexes, and a violet, rather than a purple hind margin, to the 

 fore-wings. On the other hand, the larva is bright green, not yellow 

 as there described, and instead of feeding in September and October, 

 as stated in the Entomologist's Companion, is fed up and over by the 

 end of August." 



Egg-laying. — The egg is usually laid on the undersurface of the 

 frill that edges the stalk of a hawthorn leaf (Wood). 



Mine. — The gallery begins with a much contorted, very slender 



