Insects. 2079 



the remark " These two Tineae are unrecorded as British." Now the former of these 

 insects is the Gracillaria substriga of Haworth (Lep. Brit. 532), and the latter G. ci- 

 nerea of the same author (Lep. Brit. 530), both of which have been frequently taken 

 at Coombe Wood, and in other places in the vicinity of London. Haworth's descrip- 

 tions were made and in type so long back as 1812 (as appears by an original proof- 

 sheet of the fourth part of Lep. Brit., in my library, which, with other like portions of 

 the same work, has been in my possession upwards of thirty years), although, from cir- 

 cumstances, not published till 1829, ten years anterior to Zeller's name, which appeared 

 in the Isis in 1839, and nine years before the appearance of DuponchePs, in 1838 ; 

 and in the interim Haworth's name had reappeared in my Illustrations (Haust.) iv. 

 364-5, in 1834. The third species, C. citrinellum (Fish. v. R. 1839), is synonymous 

 with my Gracillaria leucapennella, Illust. (Haust.) iv. 368, 1835, the G. sulphurea of 

 Haworth's MSS. and some cabinets. — J. F. Stephens ; Eltham Cottage, near Brixton, 

 March, 1848. 



A Monograph on the British Argyromiges. By H. T. Stainton, Esq. 



It is not my intention to enter into the generic characters of the insects I am 

 about to describe : they are divisible into several very distinct groups, which the Con- 

 tinental Lepidopterists have made into genera. Zeller, who appears to have paid 

 more attention to them than any other entomologist, divides them into Lithocolletis, 

 Opostega and Lyonetia ; the last, however, contains many of our Microsetiae. 



Lithocolletis has the back of the head rough, the antennas simple, with the basal 

 joint thickened ; and has an ocellated spot at the apex of the anterior wings, which 

 are in most cases adorned with brilliant metallic colours. 



Opostega has the basal joint of the antennae very thick, and hollowed in the form 

 of a spoon on the outside, so that when in repose these hollows in the antennae cover 

 the eyes of the insect. 



Lyonetia has the antennae as in Opostega, but the head is provided with a tuft of 

 hair, whereas in Opostega it is smooth. 



These insects, which are all, with very few exceptions, double-brooded, are found 

 on palings and trunks of trees, or beaten out of hedges and bushes, from the middle 

 or end of April to the beginning of June, and again in August and September. Some 

 few species appear to last all the summer through. The larvae of all the genus Litho- 

 colletis of Zeller, of which the metamorphosis is known, have only fourteen feet; they 

 are miners, and feed on the parenchyma of leaves, and change therein to the pupa 

 state. The larvae of some of the genus Lyonetia of Zeller live on, not in, the leaves, 

 and have sixteen feet. 



I have divided the Argyromiges into several sections. 



Section A. — Anterior wings metallic or very glossy, xoith paler fascia or comma-shaped 



marks on both margins. 



1. lautella. 4. cavella. 



2. Schreberella. 5. Spinolella. 



3. ulmifoliella. 6. connexella. 



