NEPTICULA FLOSLACTELLA. 325 



" Cat. Lep. Als.," 2ndEd., ii., p. 166 (1882) ; Snellen, " De Vlinders," p. 1000 (1882) ; 

 Sorhagen, " Die Kleinschmett. Brandbg.," p. 308 (1886) ; Meyrick, "Handbook," 

 etc., pp. 723-724 (1895). 



Original description. — Tinea jloslactella (The cream Pygmy). Alis 

 pallide flavescentibus postice fasciaque medio violaceo-atris. Expansio 

 alarum 3 lin. Species agilissima. Caput ferrugineum. Alaa anticaa 

 pallidisime flavescentes, medio, macula maxima fasciaeformi irregulari 

 fere afcra ; alteraque terminali subrotunda atro-violacea, a costa ad 

 marginem tenuiorem : ciliis albido-flavescentibus. Postica3 subulate 

 f usco-plumbeae sericeae utrinque ciliis plumbeis altissimis ufc in affinibus. 

 Habitat in Com. Surrey prope Londinum. Imago sepibus sylvaticis 

 f. Mai (Haworth, Lepidoptera Britannica, p. 585). 



Imago. — Head bright yellowish. Anterior wings 5-6 mm. ; fuscous 

 much dusted with yellowish towards the base ; beyond the middle is 

 a rather oblique, yellowish fascia ; the apical portion of the wing is 

 entirely fuscous with a faint violet tinge : cilia whitish-yellow. Pos- 

 terior wings and cilia pale grey. 



Variation. — This species possesses a certain tendency to vary. Some 

 specimens have the fore-wings of a tolerably blackish hue ; others, owing 

 to the development of the yellow-brown scales, especially at the base of 

 the fore-wings, have a much paler and browner tint. It is remark- 

 able that the specimens bred from Corylus are much more yellow than 

 those from Carpinus, which are blacker in appearance. One might 

 suppose them to be different species were not the larval and mines 

 alike (Frey). Stainton notes that some specimens have " the anterior 

 wings yellowish, irrorated with a few fuscous scales towards the base 

 and a fuscous fascia a little before the middle. Others have the 

 entire basal half of the anterior wings fuscous." He further says 

 that " sometimes the medial dark fascia is omitted, the first two- 

 thirds of the wing being entirely yellowish." Haworth notes a form 

 as : " f3. Alse anticae absque fascia media irregulari atra." 



Comparison of N. floslactella with N. salicis. — The best dis- 

 tinguishing mark between N. floslactella and N. salicis is the much 

 broader, perpendicular band. The hind-legs of N. floslactella have 

 yellowish-grey tarsi, whilst those of N. salicis are unicolorous grey 

 (Frey). N. salicis has the anterior wings more glossy and less coarsely 

 scaled ; the pale fascia a little nearer to the base, rather more obliquely 

 placed, and the apical portion of the wing is darker in N. salicis than 

 in N. jloslactella (Stainton). 



Egg-laying. — The egg is laid on the underside of a leaf of nut or 

 hornbeam, close to a rib. 



Mine.— The mine forms an irregular wavy gallery ; in the first 

 part the excrement forms a line occupying almost" the whole width ; 

 then, for some distance, it forms an irregular series of blackish grains, 

 still occupying almost the whole width of the mine ; in the last third, 

 the frass forms a central row of black grains, with a considerable 

 whitish margin on either side. The larva leaves the mine by the 

 upper surface of the leaf (Stainton). 



Larva. — Length nearly two lines ; very pale amber, with the 

 dorsal vessel greenish ; head light brown, with the mouth and margins 

 darker ; the prothorax pale brownish, with the two darker hinder 

 lobes of the head showing through, behind which, in the centre, is a 

 quadrate black spot showing through (Stainton) . Frey describes the 



