2094 Lisects. 



Zeller says, " As a certain resort of this species I know the neighbourhood of 

 Dresden, where Tischer has bred it from caterpillars off fruit trees, . . . and Glogau, 

 where I have taken several specimens, principally in birch and oak woods, in which 

 there are bushes of whitethorn, sloe, willow, &c." 



This insect has so long gone in this country by the name of the Linnean Rajella, 

 that I think it necessary to state fully my reasons for changing that name. Linneus 

 says (' Fauna Suecica,' 1407), — 



" Rajella ; wings golden, with six silvery spots, the second and third united. 



" De Geer, Ins. i. tab. 31, figs. 11, 12. 



" The larva inhabits the inside of alder leaves, &c. 



" Description. — Small ; resembling Phalama Gcedartella. Anterior wings brown- 

 ish or golden, with three silvery white spots on each side, of which the second is nearly 

 transverse." 



The only addition Linneus makes in the * Systema Naturae,' i. ii. 898, is that he 

 says " with seven silver spots." Now the first difficulty that will strike every one is 

 11 resembling Gcedartella :" fortunately there is in the Linnean cabinet a specimen la- 

 belled Rajella, and it is our Brockella. How the mistake arose must ever be a mys- 

 tery, as no part of the description will apply to Brockella ; moreover the insect figured 

 in De Geer is truly an Argvromiges, and we see from that figure the meaning of Lin- 

 neus's words " the second and third united : " the spots are united, not across the wing, 

 but join one another along the inner margin and along the costa, being thus connected 

 laterally by their bases, not transversely by their apices. I am rather perplexed as to 

 what Linneus means by " the second is nearly transverse : " the first costal spot in 

 De Geer's figure extends more than half across the wing, with a tendency to meet the 

 second inner marginal one ; but further than that there is no appearance of a transverse 

 fascia. 



De Geer gives very precise information about the habits and appearance of the 

 larva, which feeds on the parenchyma of alder leaves, in which it turns to a chrysalis, 

 and the moth comes out about the 12th of June, whereas pomifoliella has nothing to 

 do with alders. These reasons would be quite sufficient to upset the nomenclature, 

 but Zeller has figured an insect precisely similar to De Geer's figure, which is proba- 

 bly the next species. 



Haworth copies Linneus, and adds, " perhaps a variety of mespilella, but much 

 less, with the wings almost without yellow or golden ; " though what he means by the 

 latter half of the sentence I cannot discover. The description given by Mr. Stephens 

 is also a copy of Linneus ; but in order to make it more distinct, he adds, after the 

 words "the second and third of which are frequently united," "so as to form one or 

 two transverse fasciae" thus, as Zeller remarks, taking Linneus's words in quite a dif- 

 ferent sense from what was intended. 



Sp. 17. securiferella, Stainton (fig. 6). 



Elachista Rajella, Duponchel, xi. 541, PI. 308, f. 11. 

 Lithocolletis Rajella, Zeller? Linn. Entom. i. 185, fig. 11. 



Tinea Rajella, Linneus? Faun. Suec. 1407. Syst. Nat. i. ii. 898 (excl. similis 

 G cedar tell ae). 



Expansion of the wings 3jfc lines. Head pale tawny or whitish. Forehead white. 

 Palpi white. Antennas white, annulated with fuscous. Thorax pale tawny, the sides 



