81 



STEPS TOWARDS A REVISION OF CHAMBERS'S INDEX,* WITH 

 NOTES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Lord Walsingham. 



In attempting a gradual revision of the late Mr. V. T. Chambers' In- 

 dex of the Tineina of the United States and Canada, published exactly 

 ten years ago, I do not propose to take the genera in systematic order, 

 Qor alphabetically as in the original publication. I shall commence with 

 those genera at present best known to me and in which the material at 

 my disposal is sufficient to enable me to add something to the knowl- 

 edge of the subject. It will be easy to compile a new list if the revision 

 should be ever comi^leted. I fear it may be some time before any 

 satisfactory knowledge caa be obtained of the majority of the species 

 in the great genus Gelechia. The genera Lithocolletis, Gracilaria and 

 Tinea also present considerable difficulties to any one who is not 

 in a position to examine the types of American authors. I hope 

 that by i)ublishing the lists of different genera from time to time I 

 may call forth some useful observations from others who are acquainted 

 with the subject, and thus accumulate material for a complete catalogue. 

 To Dr. Riley, Professor Fernald, and Miss M. E. Murtfeldt I am con- 

 stantly and gratefully indebted for specimens and information. 



CLEODORA, Curt. 



Two species of this genus have been recognized by Chambers as occurring in the 

 United States. Both are described by him in the sixth volume of the Canadian Ento- 

 mologist, p. 245, and both are subsequently referred to by the same author in the 

 Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey, Vol. IV, No. 1, 

 pp. 91-92. These are Cleodora pallidistrigella Chamb. and Cleodora iJalUdella Chamb. 



The first is said to difter slightly in its neuration from the European type of this 

 genus. It is described thus: " Thorax and primaries pale orange ; paler, nearly white 

 along the dorsal margin and on the extreme costa beyond the middle ; a narrow, indis- 

 tinct, whitish line along the fold, ending at a small brown spot; there is an oblique, 

 narrow, whitish streak along the base of the costal cilia ; a minute brownish spot 

 surrounded by a pale ring at the end of the disk, and an oblique brownish streak m 

 the cilia at the apex. The brown spots are all indistinct. The palpi pale yellowish ; 

 a spot on the top of the third joint and the brush on the second joint reddish ochreous. 

 Al. ex., % in." 



Under the second of the two references given above, the descriptions of both species 

 are amended and elaborated, but some of the amendments to the description of C. 

 paUidella can only apply to that of the other species, the spelling of which is here 

 corrected to C. jpalUdistrifjella. The wide range of variation indicated points to the 

 probability that Chambers had before him at the time more than two allied species 

 of this genus, I have had an opportunity of examining a specimen of C. pallidis- 

 trigella from Texas, lent me by Professor Riley and received by him from Chambers 

 as a type of the'sjjecies. A coloured drawing of this specimen is now before me. It 



' Index to the described Tineina of the United States and Canada. V. T. Chambers. 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. IV (1), February, 1878. 



