Insects. 



8365 



leis, fascia post medium aurea, nitida, ciliis apice fuscis ; tibiis 

 mediis aeneo-griseis. Exp. al. 2j lin. 

 Frey, Intellig. iv. 27. 



Extremely like N. marginicolella, $; of the same size and form, and 

 of quite similar colours and markings, with only this difference, that 

 the cilia of the anterior wings, as well as the posterior wings and their 

 cilia, are not blackish but more brownish, the eye-caps are larger and 

 of a purer white ; besides, the middle tibiae are not whitish as in N. 

 marginicolella, but gray with a bronzy gloss like the other legs. On 

 the hind margin of the posteriorwings in the male of N. speciosa there is a 

 row of shorter cilia on the other cilia, but these are finer than in N. 

 marginicolella, and only noticeable in that the basal half of the cilia 

 appears thicker. I have not been able to find out other differences. 

 The ground colour of the anterior wings is of a shining reddish golden 

 with faint violet gloss, which becomes violet-blue before the fascia. 

 The fascia is placed just beyond the middle ; it is vertical, pale golden, 

 very glossy, the space beyond it is dark brown with violet-blue gloss. 

 If one looks obliquely along the wings towards the base, and towards 

 the light, the golden gloss on the ground colour and on the fascia dis- 

 appears, and the ground colour from the base to the distinctly and 

 sharply-defined dark portion before the fascia appears of a shining 

 greenish brassy, and the fascia itself appears pure silvery ; the same 

 thing also occurs in N. marginicolella. Whether the female has, like 

 N. marginicolella, a reddish yellow frontal tuft I know not, since I only 

 possess a male. 



The larva feeds in a large mine at the end of September and be- 

 ginning of October, in the leaves of Acer pseudo-platanus. Frey bred 

 it at Zurich, and sent me the specimen described. I have also found 

 the empty mines at Brunswick. 



I am still doubtful whether two specimens which Buchheister took 

 the beginning of May at Wolfenbuttel, on Acer pseudo-platanus, should 

 be referred here. They are much less shining, especially the base of 

 the anterior wings is rather dull, since violet or purple-blue scales, 

 though only faint, go to near the base, and the latter lightens up some- 

 what metallic ; the ground colour is more bronzy green, with violet 

 tint ; the fascia broader, with fainter glossiness, and the entire insect is 

 more like N. splendidissimella than N. marginicolella. 



