LUFFIA FERCHAULTELLA. 247 



the name Solenobia pomo?iae. Harding wrote (Ent. Mo. Mag., vi., pp. 

 91-93) a most interesting account of S. pomonae. This was dated 

 July 13th, 1869, and he observes that some ten or twelve years before 

 that date, he first met with a large number of cases, apparently 

 belonging to a Solenobia, on fruit and other trees in the neighbour- 

 hood. He at first supposed them to be those of 8. inconspicuella, but 

 on comparison found a decided difference of form, the cases of 8. 

 inconspicuella being generally three-sided, straight, and grey in colour, 

 whilst these were round, slightly curved, and generally green. 

 Towards the end of June, the moths began to emerge, all apterous 

 females, something like, but easily separable from, those of 8. incon- 

 spicuella, being much yellower in colour and with the ovipositor very 

 much longer. The species was bred every year in large numbers, but 

 no males appeared, although the cylinders in which the females 

 emerged afterwards swarmed with immense numbers of young larvse, 

 proving that the insect was freely parthenogenetic. Cases sent to 

 Doubleday, Stainton, and Edleston, also only produced females. It 

 was in this communication that Harding suggested (under the nomen- 

 clature then in vogue) that this parthenogenetic L. ferchaultella was 

 an apterous form of N. monilifera. [Before, however, these communi- 

 cations of Stainton and Harding had been published, Weaver had 

 recorded (Zoologist, 1857, p. 5540) his finding, on rocks at Conway, in 

 North Wales, several small cases that were covered with the lichen 

 upon which the larvae were feeding, the case round and a little curved, 

 these produced only females " bearing a close resemblance to those of 

 S. inconspicuella." These we suspect were cases of L. lapidella; they 

 must, of course, have been this or L. ferchaultella.] Boyd discusses 

 (Ent. Mo. Mag., xii., p. 163) Harding's views, and states his belief 

 that the latter had confused the cases of two distinct species, of which 

 the imagines are really different though somewhat similar. He points 

 out that Mr. Harding's description of the case as " round, slightly 

 curved, and generally green," does not quite agree with that of N. 

 monilifera (melanella) which, " slightly curved at the mouth, where the 

 case is circular, has the hinder end decidedly three-sided, and the 

 case has, when viewed laterally, a truncated appearance. The colour 

 of the case seems to be always green, and when the perfect insect 

 emerges, the pupa-skin is left sticking out." From these Boyd states 

 that he had bred both sexes (winged) of N. monilifera and nothing else. 

 On the same trees, on which these cases of N. monilifera were found, 

 other cases occurred, of about the same size, but circular throughout 

 their whole length, and pointed at the hinder end. They are not 

 always green, but frequently show circular bands of green and grey, 

 and the pupa-skin is always left inside. From these latter Boyd says 

 he has bred only apterous females of the genus Solenobia and nothing 

 else. Boyd's note brought (Ent. Mo. Mag., xii., p. 208) a further 

 contribution from Mr. Harding. He states that he had some thousands 

 of cases between 1855-1868, that large numbers were sent to the lead- 

 ing lepidopterists, and that nothing ever emerged from them but 

 apterous females with a singularly long ovipositor, that left the pupa- 

 skin within the larval-case (used as apuparium), on emergence. In 1869, 

 the trees which had hitherto produced only the apterous pomonae, sud- 

 denly produced many winged males and females of A T . monilifera 

 (melanella), as well as a fewer number of the apterous form. In 1870;, 



