400 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



2nd ed., p. 52 (1856) ; Wood, " Ind. Ent.," p. 27, pi. vii., fig. 30 (1839) ; Humph, 

 and Westwd., "Brit. Moths," i., p. 94, pi. xix., fig. 3 (1851); Westwd., "Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. Lond.," 1854, p. 220, nee pi. xxxiv., fig. 1 ( ? , from Scotland = ^l. 

 opaeella); Sta., " Man.," i., p. 166 (1857) ; Kirby, " Cat. Lep. Het.," p. 509 (1892) ; 

 Tutt, "Brit. Moths," p. 343 (1896). Nigrieantella, Brd., " Mon. Psy.," p. 52, pi. i., 

 fig. 29 (1853). — Penthophera nigricans. Male, semi-transparent, hairy, brownish- 

 black with a yellowish tint ; cilia and nervures darker, the former very short ; 

 superior wings rather long and narrow. Thorax and abdomen woolly, the latter 

 beneath at the apex and the tarsi silvery. Beaten from a birch tree on the outside 

 of West Parley coppice, Dorsetshire, by J. C. Dale, June 18th, 1824 (Curtis). 



This (our British form) was reared, in 1848, by Stevens, from 

 cocoons found on heath and gorse in the neighbourhood of Kingwood 

 and Lyndhurst ; he has observed that the males invariably emerge 

 from the pupa between the hours of 5 and 7 p.m. and that one 

 evening great numbers of males were attracted by a ? just emerged 

 from the pupa, in one of his breeding-cages, in a garden at a consider- 

 able distance from the heath where the insect was found. He further 

 notes that these cases were obtained in the third and last week of May, 

 the imagines appearing a few days after ; he observed that two males 

 had not been out of the pupa more than ten minutes before they paired 

 with the ? s but did not remain in copulation more than a quarter of 

 an hour, only the head and wings of the $ s were observable at the time. 

 Bruand considers nigricans, Curt, (which he renames nirjricantella) a 

 slightly larger race of P. villosella (the male measuring 27mm.) than 

 the continental form, in which the colour is exactly the same, as also 

 the shape of the wings and the antennae ; the neuration, too, is 

 identical, except that the nervule that closes the discoidal cell of the 

 hindwing on its outer edge is straighter or even turned to the outer 

 margin in nigricans, whilst it is inclined towards the base of the wing 

 in villosella. He looks upon the case formed of pieces of ling as very 

 remarkable, but fortuitous, and states that Doubleday informed him 

 that the larva feeds also on sallow. [We may note here that West- 

 wood states (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1854, p. 220) that his ? (pi. xxxiv., 

 fig. 1) was drawn from a living insect, specimens having been sent by 

 Weaver from Scotland in the middle of the month of June. As P. 

 villosella does not occur in Scotland and A. opaeella was the Psychid 

 that Weaver obtained there, there can be no doubt that Westwood's 

 description and figure apply to the latter species.] 



/3. var. Urtella, Ev., "Bull. Mosc," (3), p. 542 (1843); Kirby, "Cat. Lep. 

 Het.," p. 509 (1892). Casanella, Brd., " Mon. Psy.," p. 53, pi. i., fig. 31 (1853). 

 Villosella, Heyl., "Bom. Mem.," ii., p. 177 (1885). — Psyche. Corpus hirtum, e ferru- 

 gineo cano-fuscum ; alee nigricantes subpellueidee, lunula media obscuriore obsoleta. 



Ma^nitudine P. graminellae, corpore autem crassiore; antennas maris eodem 



modo pectinatse, quo esse vidimus in graminella — fuscse. Alae fusco-nigricantes, 

 subdiaphante, fere eodem colore, quo Liparis detrita, sed paulo magis diaphanse. 

 Habitat in promontoriis Uralensibus. Larva saccata repit frequentissime mense 

 Junio in quercuum et betularum truncis ; ejus sacculus e foliolis minutis penden- 

 tibus constructus est. In arboris trunco hgerens larva metamorphosin subit ; imago 

 apparet Julio [Eversmann, Bull. Mosc, p. 542 (1843)]. 



This would appear to be without doubt casanella''-, Brd. Heylaerts 



* Bruand's description of casanella reads as follows : Casanella = ? var. 

 cinerellae. Mas : nervis, cinerellae maxime affinis ; colore autem necnon alarum 

 forma ad villosellam accedit. Femina larvaque ignotas. M. Boisduval possede un 

 seul exemplaire male de cette Psychide qu'il a recue de Casan, ainsi que son nom 

 l'indique. Elle a la meme forme d'ailes que villosella et elle est de la meme 

 couleur ; de sorte que sa figure ne serait qu'une repetition de celle-ci. Mais en 

 revanche le systeme nervulaire se rapproche de celui de cinerella, sans cependant 



