2 Hwro-Lepidoptera. 



I have at this moment about twenty specimens of the Coleo- 

 phora (Limosipennella) feeding on a branch of elm, in water, on 

 my table, and one is under the binocular mining for its daily food ; 

 another I turned out of its pretty case that it might make a new 

 one for my edification, and the verification of a former state- 

 ment. Whilst it is uneasily walking about, wriggling its 

 unhoused tail, and apparently measuring those serrated edges 

 of the elm-leaf, I will give some particulars of the Coleophora 

 as a genus of the Micro-Lepidoptera. 



There are forty-one British species described by Stainton,*- 

 and many of them have been mentioned and figured by various 

 naturalists, Eeaumur, Curtis, Haworth, Duponchel, and our own 

 Westwood, under the synonymes of Porrectaria, Ornix, Gra- 

 cillaria, Astyages. At present they bear the very appropriate 

 name of Coleophora, from Koleon (a sheath), Phoros from. Phero 

 (to bear). 



The larva of a Coleophora has sixteen legs; the prolegs are 

 very undeveloped; the six true legs are pointed and scaly 

 as those of large caterpillars. They have invariably dark 

 spots on the anterior and anal segment, and a horny plate on 

 the second segment, which I imagine to be used by the insect 

 to smooth the asperities of the leaf, as it is observed to turn 

 about and rub its head over every part of its case previous to 

 lining it with silk. There is also a plate on the anal segment 

 to protect that part from the friction to which it is exposed by 

 the protrusion of the anal segment in voiding its excrement. 



These tiny caterpillars, scarcely noticed by the unassisted 

 eye, are wonderful in their instinct, as the Lithocolletis are mar- 

 vellous in their beauty. Here is a mere speck, a little brown, 

 naked worm, busy on the leaf before me ; nothing can be more 

 insignificant in appearance, or more unworthy of minute atten- 

 tion ; hardly does the careless eye perceive it, and yet how the 

 detail of its structure reveals the mind of its Great Creator ; the 

 same wisdom planning, and the same goodness adapting each 

 organ for the tiny workman that has given to man his more 

 perfect body. 



Look closely at the larva itself before we describe its pro- 

 ceedings. Externally we observe a small black head, with six 

 simple eyes in a circle on each side, a pair of sharp-toothed 

 jaws, four little palps or feelers, and a spinnaret immediately 

 under the jaws ; six true legs and ten membranous appendages, 

 thirteen joints or segments, and on each segment a spiracle 

 dilating and contracting as the larva breathes and moves. At 

 the anal segment there is a protuberance, armed with hooks, 

 which it uses as a claw to attach itself to the leaf whilst making 

 its case, and afterwards as a grappling-iron to retain possession 

 * Vol. iv. and v. of Natural History of the Tineina, by Stainton and Zeller. 



