DIPL0D0MA HERMINATA. 149 



Of this aberration Zeller notes: "One large ? has a large yellow spot 

 before, and one behind, the middle of the costa, the former is of an 

 irregular form, is sprinkled with some brown dots, and lies over against 

 the enlarged inner-marginal spot which is deeply hollowed out inwards. 

 The hind costal spot is triangular, marked on the costa itself in the 

 middle with a brown spot, and forms with some larger pale yellow spots 

 a weak curve reaching to the inner angle ; otherwise the costa has no 

 further spots." Nolcken records a female of this form from Pichten- 

 dahl, and states that he has a male, sent from the Alps by Mann, agree- 

 ing with this female in size, clearer brown in colour and so richly 

 sprinkled with yellow spots that it differs strikingly from the rest of 

 the males. The male from Pichtendahl stands, as regards markings 

 and colour, almost midway between the Alpine and German examples, 

 in which the yellow spots are restricted almost to vanishing point, so 

 that they are almost entirely dark brown. Koch notes siderella from 

 near Cassel (probably, however, only as typical herminata). 



Original description of the allied Diplodoma adspersella. — So 

 little is known of this, the only species yet described, congeneric with 

 D. herminata, that it may be well to give the original description 

 thereof. This reads as follows : 



Adspersella. — Vorderfliigel braungrau, gelblich glanzend, mit kleinen bleich- 

 gelben Punkten, eine unbestimmte breite Binde vor der Mitte und ein grosser 

 Vorderrandsfleck vor der Spitze bleichgelb, dunkel gesprenkelt, die Kopfhaare 



gelbgrau. 34j L Der Sack grosser 7J"" lang und 1J"' breit, mit Erd- 



kornern bedeckt, scharfkantig, braun, er besteht nur aus einfachen Hulle, ohne 

 den Mantel der vorigen Art (D. marginepunctella). Auf der Kaiseralp, von Herrn 

 Hofmann (Heinemann, Schmett. Deutsch., iii., p. 34). 



Egg-laying and egg. — The female covers her eggs with a thick 

 coating of fur in a similar manner to Liparis auriflua (Edleston). This 

 was afterwards confirmed by Healy. Heylaerts describes the eggs 

 as " small, round, and yellow," and says that they hatch in ten 

 days. 



Case. — The full-grown case measures some 10mm. -11mm. in length, 

 and 4mm.-4 , 5mm. in width. It is very trigonal in section and presents 

 very distinct lips at the opening for emergence of pupa. It is made of 

 white silk covered externally with sand, and enveloped in a loose outer 

 case (standing at some little distance from it) covered with insect 

 debris, minute particles of vegetable matter, the outer case being 

 attached to the inner case by loose threads of silk (Chapman). The 

 case is triangular, its underside flat, the mouth turned rather down, 

 the whole covered with a loose toga composed of all sorts of odds and 

 ends(Stainton, case from Stockton, received from Scott, Oct. 7th, 1855). 

 The larval case is double, and reaches 6^"' in length (9 ; " in the Isis, 1846, 

 p. 270, is a misprint). It is three-sided with sharp edges, thinning off 

 more to a point posteriorly than anteriorly. At the lower edge of the 

 front end is an opening from which the larva protrudes its thoracic 

 segments. It is light grey in colour, clothed with small grains of sand, 

 brownish particles of earth, and minute pieces of the hard portions of 

 beetles. This case is enclosed in another, more bulging, from which 

 it projects at both ends and to which it is fastened by single threads on 

 the margins ; the outer case is more thickly clothed with particles of 

 dirt and remains of beetles than the inner (Zeller). Fologne notes 

 that the case of this species is often composed entirely of the remains 

 of coleoptera, diptera, and even of larvse mixed with the silk. This 



