188 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



[This is monilifera, Geoffrey (not Fourcroy), vide Halliday and 

 Dohrn, Siett. Ent. Zeit., xii., 132 (1851), and Hagen, Bibl. Ent., 246. 

 In both it is stated that Geoffroy wrote the book, Ent. Paris., and that 

 Fourcroy was only the editor. Geoffroy always cited his authors in 

 Hint. abr. Insectes, and it should be noted that, in his supplement, he 

 credits to Ent. Paris., new species not mentioned in the previous parts 

 of Hist. abr. Insectes, but he does not cite an author for these new 

 species and new names. Had Fourcroy been the author Geoffroy would 

 certainly have cited the work as his, but his silence in this respect cer- 

 tainly suggests a very modest " mihi " (Burrant).] 



Original description. — Tinea monilifera. La Teigne a deux rangs 

 de points blancs. Long. 1J lig. Tinea alis atris, punctorum alborum 

 linea duplici transversa (Geoffroy, Ent. Paris., ii., p. 325). [This 

 insect is Geoffroy's, no. 18, Hist, des Ins., pp. 189-190, which he there 

 describes as : " Tinaea alis atris, punctorum alborum linea duplici 

 transversa. La teigne noire a deux rangs de points blancs. Longueur 

 l^ligne. Elle est partout d'un noir matte et nullement brillant ; elle 

 a seulement deux bandes transverses blanches, formees par des petits 

 points de cette couleur, l'une a la moitie de l'aile superieure, l'autre 

 aux trois quarts de la meme aile en descendant.] 



Werneburg refers this description without hesitation to stellifcrella, 

 F. v. E. As Wocke apparently knew nothing of Geoffroy's Ent. Paris. 

 he adopted Haworth's name melanella, by which the species has been 

 generally known. 



Imago. — Anterior wings 9mm. -10mm. in expanse ; black with a fine 

 white slender oblique basal line, a fine angulated white line (usually 

 broken) beyond the centre, and two or three white points at apex ; 

 fringes unicolorous with the ground colour of the wing. Posterior 

 wings and fringes unicolorous grey. 



Sexual dimorphism. — The female is as a rule rather smaller than 

 the male, and is generally better marked, the white dots sharper and 

 clearer. It may be at once distinguished by the woolly anal tuft. 

 Zeller says that the foreAvings of the female are usually shorter, 

 narrower, and with whiter spots than those of the male. The white 

 dots are, in the ? , collected in a blotch before the centre of the costa, 

 with a blotch beyond the centre which is much elongated downwards, a 

 pair of white dots at the apex. Fischer von Eoslerstamm strangely 

 notes that most of the females lack the fringes on the inner half of the 

 hind-margin of the hindwings and that this is at once noticed even in 

 freshly emerged specimens. Frey, Milliere, Curd and others note that 

 the ? is dimorphic, with a winged and wingless form. This error, 

 Eossler says, originated with Harding (Ent. Mo. Mac)., vi., p. 92). 



Variation. — Some examples have scarcely any trace of the white 

 spots and markings of the forewings and intermediate forms occur. 

 The presence of the apical dots is very rare. Stephens notices that 

 some examples have a few minute white dots scattered over the surface 

 of the anterior wings, especially towards the hinder margin. Zeller 

 notes it as a variable species, the Brunswick examples large and with 

 yellow markings, the Frankfort-on-Oder specimens also large, with 

 strongly-developed white markings and very distinct from the Vienna 

 examples. He further suggests that N. astrella may be a form of so 

 variable an insect. 



a. var. atrella, Stephs., "Illus.," iv., p. 359 (teste Stainton) (1835); Wood, 



