54 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[March 



species are also five, namely, L. lienigianus, L. tephradactylus, L. 

 microdactylus, L. osteodactylus and L. brachydactylus. There is no 

 reason why scarodactylus, the larva of which feeds on the blossoms of 

 Hievacium umbellatum and H. boreale in August and September, should 

 not be met with in our own country. The moth appears in July. It 

 is larger than microdactylus, nearly equal to osteodactylus in size, but 

 not so yellow ; the spots are browner than in microdactylus, and the 

 lower one is not exactly at the fissure, but rather below it ; the most 

 striking difference, however, is in the dark grey fringe in the upper 

 wings of scarodactylus, contrasted with pale brown fringes in micro- 

 dactylus'' 1 (" Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. VI., p. 150). 



Leioptilus lienigiamis. Zell. — This very local species occurs in certain 

 localities in our south-eastern counties, to which it seems to be almost 

 entirely confined. 



Synonymy — Lienigianus, Zell., "Linn. Ent.," Zeits., VI., 380; H.-S., 

 v., p. 379; Sta. "Man.," II., p. 443. Scarodactylus var. macidata, Zell., 

 " Isis," 1 841. Melinodactylus, H.-S., 33. — This species was at first 

 considered to be a variety of the more widely distributed scarodactyla, 

 Hb. by Zeller, and at the time he gave it the varietal name maculata, 

 but afterwards recognising that it was a distinct species he named it 

 lienigianus. It is such a comparatively recently discovered species in 

 Britain that there are no British synonyms. 



Imago — The anterior wings of this species are divided into two 

 lobes by a deep cleft, the tip of the upper lobe pointed and rather 

 falcate. The colour is of a pale grey inclined to ochreous. There is 

 a black dot near the centre of the wing, but rather tow r ards the base, 

 and a double black dot at the end of the fissure. These latter are 

 sometimes united to form a streak, or are very rarely produced up- 

 wards to meet a black longitudinal mark on the costa, thus forming a 

 mark similar to that of lithodactyla. ; there is another black costal 

 spot towards the apex. The fringes are darker grey, the tip of the 

 upper lobe being almost concolorous with the fringes. The fringe 

 bordering the upper edge of the cleft is almost black, and there is 

 a black dot at the lower outer angle of the upper lobe. The hind 

 wings are uniformly dark grey, the fringes concolorous with the wings. 

 Stainton's diagnosis is : — "9'" . F.-w. greyish ochreous, with an oblique 

 dark streak before the fissure and two blackish blotches on the costa 

 of the anterior lobe " (" Manual," II., p. 443). Mr. Gregson describes 

 the imago as follow r s : — " The antennae of the perfect insect are rather 

 short and slender; the head and thorax light ashy-grey ; the upper 

 wings ashy, tinged here and there with ochreous shades ; costa 

 slightly darker near the base ; then a dark costal streak-like 

 mark near the middle, and another towards the tip of the wing ; 

 between these two marks the costal area is whitish ; under wings 



