5964 



Insects. 



from M. Becter about twelve years since, but the number attached to them was 

 omitted in the list sent, and they remained nameless in my collection of European 

 J.epidoptera : upon its discovery at Horning Fen I wrote to M. Becker, sending the 

 number attached to the insect, and requesting him to give the name ; in reply be 

 stated that he had declined collecting Micro-Lepidoptera, and had mislaid his 

 Catalogue, and could not therefore furnish me with the name of this species. A short 

 lime since I forwarded a pair to M. Guenee, and he kindly gave me the name. — 

 Id,; January 13, 1858. 



A supposed new species of Tinea allied to T. rusticella. — Some years ago, when 

 I was in the habit of visiting the famous district of Rannoch, I used to be astonished 

 at capturing, far away in the woods, either at rest on the trunks of the black flfs, or 

 by beating these trees, specimens of what appeared to me at the time to be Tinea 

 rusticella. From the middle of June until the first week in July they are not un- 

 common, and are very frequently to be met with on those trees, at the foot of which 

 are the ant-hills which yield us T. ochraceella : its habit, however, seems to me to be 

 so much at variance with the T. rusticella of our cabinets, although its resemblance 

 to the insect above-named is very great, that, after long examination, I feel convinced 

 they ought to be separated; and first let us set aside the difference in habit, and look 

 at a feature impressed on the insect which at once catches the eye of all those who 

 see the two side by side, viz. the much more distinct ochreous spot in the middle of 

 the wing, and a large ochreous somewhat triangular patch at the anal angle, this 

 latter never occurring in examples of our T. rusticella, so far as I am aware ; more- 

 over, I think the general appearance of the wing is darker in the Rannoch species, 

 thereby giving a brighter and more decided character to the ochreous markings : in 

 all other respects they seem to harmonize, — the ochreous head and face, pale palpi, 

 irroration on the wings, pale ochreous cilia varied with fuscous, and pale gray posterior 

 wings ; and from these circumstances it may be thought that the distinguishing 

 features are of too superficial a nature^^on which to found a species, and that these 

 may be the result of the difference of climate; but let us now assume that climate 

 may have a little to do in the matter. Will climate entirely alter the habits of an 

 insect, so that that species which is common enough with us in our houses and out- 

 houses should take itself away to the woods, far from the habitation of man, on being 

 found a few hundred miles North or South, as the case might be? Species may vary, 

 but the home of the insect has a similarity in all cases, and I think we have grounds 

 on which to base a supposition that the two insects are distinct species. Many have 

 called my attention to them with the question, Do you think there are two species 

 united?" and as often have I looked on them in silence, not daring to hazard a 

 positive reply. Length of observance, however, combined with the above oft-repeated 

 question, and the convictions of several other entomologists, lead me to describe them 

 as such; and any one with but a limited knowledge of the Micros is able to separate 

 them at a glance from the description I have given. In the ' Insecta Britannica,' 

 vol. iii. p. 27, and immediately following the description of T. rusticella, Mr. Stainton 

 alludes to this insect with a query as to whether it is a variety ; but until both insects 

 are bred from the same batch of eggs I will adhere to my present views ; and now that 

 the gentleman there named as having taken it has passed from amongst us, after a 

 long and laborious life spent in enriching our cabinets with rarities from the North 

 and from the South, and whose untiring efforts, year after year, when an age had 

 grown upon him which unfits and incapacitates most men from working, " filled 



