23 



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

 AND DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES, 



By Loud Walsingham. 



[Continued from page 291 of Vol. I.~\ 



LITHOCOLLBTIS Z. 



In revising the index to the genus Lithocolletis, one group of six supposed species 

 has given me. more trouble than the others. These are : ulmella Chamb., modesta F. 

 & B., conglomeratella Z., bicolorella Chamb., quercivorella Chamb., and obtusiloba; F. 

 &B. 



The first two are described as mining the upper side of elm leaves. The food-plant 

 of the third is not known ; and the three last are upper-side miners on the leaves of 

 species of oak. 



Zeller, in describing his conglomeratella, mentions two varieties of that species, 

 differing chiefly in the extension of the white line along the dorsal margin of the 

 fore-wings, and Chambers uses this character to distinguish his bicolorella from 

 ulmella, with which he had at first placed it. He further says that bicolorella has two 

 costal streaks, while ulmella has three ; but in describing quercivorellft, also with three 

 costal streaks, he says the third streak is a mere spot before the cilia. In short, it is 

 doubtful whether there are sufficient differences between the six descriptions to jus- 

 tify the separation of any one of these species from the others on the ground of color 

 or markings. The evidence I have to rely upon in forming a conjecture (for it can 

 scarcely be more than a conjecture) as to their distinctness is as follows : 



(1) An authenticated specimen of modesta F. & B. from Boll's collection. 



(2) A specimen received from Miss Murtfeldt, regarded by her as ulmella Chamb. 



(a) A figure of a specimen in the collection of the American Entomological Society 

 at Philadelphia, probably received from Chambers. 



(b) A figure of a second specimen in the collection of the Peabody Academy of Sci- 

 ences at Salem, Mass., received from Chambers under the above name, and presumably 

 equal to his type. 



(:\) A specimen of conglomeratella referred to by Zeller in his description of that 

 species as the second of the varieties from which his description was taken. 



(4) Two specimens, unnamed, received from Miss Murtfeldt, bred from mines on the 

 upper side of the leaves of white oak. 



(")) An authenticated specimen of obtusilobce F. & B. from Boll's collection. 



It is most improbable that the elm and oak feeders should be the same, although 

 Miss Murtfeldt's specimen of the supposed ulmella is scarcely distinguishable from 

 those bred from oak, and Boll's specimen of modesta actually bred from elm is still 

 less so. We may at once admit that there are at least two distinct but very closely 

 allied species, one on elm, the other on oak, but I think there can be no doubt what- 

 ever that ulmella and modesta are the same. The name ulmella takes precedence for 

 the elm-feeder. I fear that some years ago in naming specimens for some of my 

 American correspondents I may have been guilty of some confusion as to this species, 

 having been misled by seeing specimens of bicolorella distributed by Chambers under 

 the above name. We now come to the far more difficult identification of the oak- 

 feeding species. 



Zeller's specimen of conglomeratella is labelled " Dallas, Tex., Boll." This differs 

 from the other specimens here referred to only in its somewhat duller c dor, but it 

 is not in good condition, although the markings are easily visible. It agrees pre 



* Index to the described Tineina of the United States and Canada. V. T. Cham- 

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



