90 
several species of Lo^otsenia, Ptycholonia, Lecheana, and Hedya. The 
caterpillar of Seraasia Woeberana where abundant, did an immense amount 
of injury, mining under the bark of fruit trees, and thus opening up a 
passage for insects of other orders ; the genera Carpocapsa and Cnephasia 
had somewhat the same habits. Several species of Tortricina were then 
mentioned as beneficial to agriculture, feeding on weeds, and in some cases 
also, as Halonota and Cirsiana, mining the stems of the larger weeds. 
The Tineina were the largest group of British moths, containing about 
700 species, but the individuals were the smallest in size. Many species 
Were excessively abundant, and in the larval state, collectively more des- 
tructive to property than the other divisions. The larvae differed in their 
modes of feeding, some raining in the leaves, bark, and stems of plants, or 
in textile fabrics, others forir.ed cases to w r ork in, while a third set resembled 
the Tortricina in enclosing themselves in a rolled-up leaf. The Black cloak 
Woollen Moth, Tiuea tapetzella, was exceedingly destructive to woollen 
cloth, curtains and beds, and objects of natural history, and, like allied 
species, was very difficult to get rid of. T. granella, feeding on barley, 
might destroy the contents of a granary. T. pellionella especially attacked 
feather and wool pillows, linings of carriages, &c. The genera Incurvaria 
and Swammerdamia were very injurious to fruit trees and bushes, being 
often extremely abundant, while Argyresthia and Gracilaria caused great 
damage among hawthorn, sloe, apple, birch, willow and other trees. 
Amongst thos;e which rolled and twisted-up leaves were mentioned several 
species of the genus Gclechia. The genera Ornix, Coleophora, and 
Lithocolletis were very destructive, Eleachista also, especially to grasses, 
and Lyonetia, Cemiostona, and Nepticula closed a long list of these highly 
injurious insects. A few genera were then mentioned as feeding on value- 
less plants, or even on agricultural pests ; among them Tinea arcella and 
T. cloacella, which fed upon rotten wood and fungi ; Depressaria, some 
species of which lived upon hemlock, Gelechia, and Gracilaria. The 
larvae of the Pterophorina mostly fed on wild and uncultivated plants, and 
were therefore to be viewed as beneficial to the agriculturist, though in a 
small degree. The author thus concluded his paper : — 
" I shall briefly recapitulate, in conclusion, the number of species bene- 
ficial to agriculture by checking the growth of weeds, and those that 
injure crops and fruit or forest trees. I pass over as too scarce to be 
estimated with any measure of accuracy, 171- species out of the 
nearly 2,000 butterflies and moths which are found in Britain. I have 
considered 32 butterflies and 252 moths which are divided as follows. 
Sphinges, 10; Bombyces, 17; Nocture, 38 ; Geometrce, 40 ; Pyra- 
lidina, 20 ; Tortricina, 51 ; Tineina, 72 ; and Pterophorina, 4 ; or a 
total of 284 species, or one-sixth of the entire list of British butter- 
flies and moths. Of the caterpillars of the butterflies, 17 > or more 
than one-fourth of the entire British species, feed on plants valued by 
man, and 15, or less than one-fourth, on those that are either trouble- 
