190 BEITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



taining the darker discoidal lunule, the outer half of wings faintly 

 reticulated. The posterior wings ashy-grey faintly reticulated towards 

 outer margin. ? . Apterous (with no characters that can be used for 

 its determination), simple antennae, and six legs [Europ. Schmett., fig. 

 373 (273)]. The male appears (in a crude way) to satisfy Fischer's 

 description and probably represents the species. Fischer's diagnosis 

 reads as follows : " Alis dilutis cinereis subhyalinalis, anticis obsolete 

 reticulatis " (Abbild. Schmett., p. 87). 



N.B. — Fischer von Eoslerstamm, although insisting that Hiibner's triquetrella 

 is not triquetrella, Tr. ( = clathrella, Fisch.), considers his triquetrella identical with 

 that of Hiibner, remarking that, although " it has the form of S. clathrella, 

 yet the wings are narrower, as Hiibner pretty correctly represents them." On the 

 other hand, Fischer doubts whether the triquetrella of Zincken is that of Hiibner. 

 Guenee considers the triquetrella of Hiibner and of Fischer to be identical. Zeller 

 notes that Hiibner's triquetrella is neither pineti, Zell., nor triquetrella, Fisch., and 

 that he prefers to omit it altogether ; Zincken's triquetrella, he says, appears to be 

 identical with Hiibner's, the added ' mihi ' possibly indicating that he had both 

 suggested the name and sent the insect to Hiibner, whilst the statement that "the 

 c? is very little smaller than pseudobombycella " contradicts the figure which is 

 much smaller, indeed of the same size as Fischer's S. triquetrella. Zeller concludes 

 that Zincken's note, " ? without anal wool," is evidently based only on an example 

 that has laid its eggs, for the female appears to belong to his (Zeller's) triquetrella. 

 The fact is that Hiibner's figure is undoubtedly a Solenobia, and about as bad as 

 most of his smaller figures, and that its species is practically unrecognisable. 



Imago. — Anterior wings 14mm. in expanse ; unicolorous dark grey 

 in colour (darker than *S'. mannii and S. pineti), the paler specklings 

 exceedingly fine and sparse. The posterior wings grey, rather paler 

 than the forewings (Stainton coll.). [Fischer and Bruand treat the 

 pale specklings as the ground colour and say that the wings are reticu- 

 lated with darker grey. It is questionable whether Zeller's description 

 (which Hofmann says is a good one) refers to the species as repre- 

 sented by the specimens in the " Stainton " collection] . 



Sexual dimorphism. — Male : The thorax of the male dark grey, the 

 abdomen somewhat lighter, the antennae grey-brown with very fine 

 and lighter pectinations, all the wings with a light ash-grey ground 

 colour, the nervures and almost imperceptible transverse streaks (making 

 the surface reticulated) being of a darker grey ; a still darker, almost 

 black, linear spot, at the end of the discoidal cell, the wings slightly 

 glossy, the fringes light grey. The underside is entirely unicolorous 

 grey, the dark central spot showing faintly through (Fischer). 

 The ground-colour grey, very slightly tinged with yellowish-brown 

 (consequently dust-grey) ; the clear whitish-grey dots are almost 

 everywhere larger and fewer in number, and scarcely form reticula- 

 tions behind the discoidal lunule ; the latter forms an obscure, 

 moderately thick streak, rather darker than the ground colour (Zeller). 

 Hofmann notes (Berl. Ent. Zeits., 1860, pp. 40-6) that Zeller has given 

 a good description of the male which " varies from 5-7 lines ; the 

 head thickly haired, brown (sometimes nearly black), the antennae and 

 tarsi not ringed ; the nervures of the hindwings showing great varia- 

 tion (4 and 5 sometimes separate, at others united, sometimes spring- 

 ing from a common stalk of greater or less length, with intermediate 

 forms)" &c. Female: The female is very small, wingless, with perfect 

 legs, cherry-brown head, grey filiform antennae ; the thoracic segments 

 black, the abdominal light grey, spotted with darker ; the anus brown, 

 some tufts of white hairs beneath, the long ovipositor light brown or 



