268 BRITISH LEPlDOPTERA. 



der sich hinfcer der Binde nur wenig erhoht, von der folgenden 

 grossern durch den viel lebhafteren Glanz der Binde, die auch bei ihr 

 weiter gegen die Spitze geriickt 1st, Grosse der allerkleinsten aurella 

 (Vorderfliigel wenig iiber eine Linie). Kopf hinten gelbschuppig ; 

 der Schopf beim Mannchen scbwarz, beim Weibchen rostgelb. Augen- 

 deckel der braunen, gelblich scbiramernden Fiihler hellgelblich, wenig 

 iiber die Haare hervorstebend. Beine braunlicb, weiss scbimmernd. 

 Vorderfliigel grossschuppig, braun (beim Weibchen heller), violettlich 

 glanzend (weniger beim Weibchen) ; gegen die Spitze nur wenig 

 lebhafter als gegen die Basis am Vorderrande. Die Binde stehfc wie 

 bei aurella, ist silberglanzend, ohne den hohen Glanz der genannten 

 Art. Franzen urn die Spitze mit grauen Enden, am Innenrande 

 iiberall grau. Hinterfliigel grau, haarschuppig. Unterseite braun- 

 grau, sehr schwach violettglanzend (Zeller, Linnaea Entomologica, 

 iii. (1848), pp. 315-316). 



Imago. — Head ferruginous, tinged with fuscous. Anterior wings 

 5 mm. in expanse ; brown in colour, with a very faint purple 

 tinge, the apex purplish-brown ; beyond the middle is a slightly 

 oblique, rather broad fascia, of a yellowish-white or pale golden tint ; 

 cilia greyish. Posterior wings and cilia grey. 



Comparison of N. centifoliella with N. plagicolella, etc. — This 

 insect is readily distinguished from the two other rose-feeding Nepti- 

 culae, anomalella and angulifasciella, but bears considerable resemblance 

 to the sloe-feeding A T . plagicolella and the hawthorn -feeding N.ignobilella. 

 From the former it is distinguished by the browner (less golden- 

 brown) base of the anterior wings, and by the fascia being less shining ; 

 from the latter, in which the basal half of the anterior wings is rather 

 of a pale golden -brown, the different colour of that portion of the 

 wing is a sufficient distinction, and, besides, the fascia is more oblique 

 in N. centifoliella tban in N. ignobilella. The position of the fascia 

 serves also to distinguish it from X. betulicola, for in N. centifoliella 

 it is only a little beyond tbe middle, whilst in A T . betulicola it is con- 

 siderably beyond the middle, just before the violet apex (Stainton). 



Egg-laying. — The egg is generally deposited on the underside of a 

 rose-leaf, though sometimes on the upper side. 



Mine. — The larva makes a slender sinuous gallery, which from its 

 commencement is not entirely filled up with the black excrement, but 

 has a narrow, empty border on each side of the track. In the latter 

 half of the mine the excrement is brownish (Stainton). Sorhagen 

 describes the mine as " slender, slightly sinuous, almost parallel with 

 the margin of the leaf ; the excremental line, black (for some distance 

 brownish), slender, placed in the centre of the gallery." 



Larva. — Length 2 lines. Pale amber, darker towards the anal 

 end ; dorsal vessel dark green ; head brown with two dark brown 

 lobes receding into the prothorax (Stainton). Hodgkinson says that 

 " the full-fed larva is dark brick-red " (Entom., xvii., p. 166). 



Cocoon. — The cocoon is spun on the ground, and is of a brownish 

 colour (Stainton). Cocoons of the summer brood may be found like 

 those of N. anomalella at the base of a leaf of the food-plant (Fletcher). 



Food-plants. — Rosa rubiginosa and R. micrantha. This has long 

 been recognised as the "sweet-briar " species. Fletcher (at Worthing), 

 and Digby (at Purbeck), however, have bred it from R. spinosissima. 

 Stainton gives : Rosa centifolia. 



