20 
THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE 
T I N E I N A. 
On the Group of the Genus Gele- 
CHIA ATTACHED TO THE CaRYOPHYL- 
LACE.E. 
This group comprises thirteen spe- 
cies at present, ten of which occur in 
this country. The ten British species 
are — 
1. Maculea, 
2. Tricolorella, 
3. Fraternella, 
4. Viscariella, 
5. Maculiferella, 
6. Junctella, 
7. Vieinella, 
8. Leueomelanella, 
9. Hubneri, 
10. Marmorea. 
The three Continental species not yet 
found here are — 
11. Fischerella, 
12. Moritzella, 
13. Tischeriella. 
The larvae of Nos. 5, 6, 7, 9 & 13 are 
still undiscovered, so that, in the search 
for them a capital opportunity will occur 
of testing the accuracy of our prediction 
that they will all he found to feed on 
plants belonging to the natural order 
Caryophyllacece. 
Ou referring to Babington’s ‘ British 
Botany,’ fourth edition, p. 42, the reader 
will find that the order Caryophyllacece is 
divided into two suborders, the Silenece 
and the Alsinece, or, to speak more in the 
vulgar tongue, the Pinks and the Chick- 
weeds. It may surprise some to hear 
that the showy carnation belongs to the 
same order as the insignificant chick- 
weed, but so it is. The principal genera 
of the first suborder are Di an thus, Sa- 
ponaria, Silene and Lychnis. None of 
the genus Dianthus (the true Pinks) are 
coinmou with us, except in gardens, 
and none of them are yet known to be 
patronized by these larvae. 
The genus Saponaria contains only a 
single British species (ihe soap-wort) ; it 
is not too plentiful with us, which will 
probably explain why No. 1 1 , Fischerella, 
which feeds on it, has not yet been added 
to the British Fauna. 
The genus Silene (Catchfly), of which 
Silene nutans, injlata and tnaritima are 
familiar instances, furnishes, in the last- 
named species, the food-plant of No. 8, 
Leueomelanella ; but the shoots of Silene 
injlata and nutans should be carefully 
examined at this season of the year. 
The geDUS Lychnis furnishes us with 
four common examples, L. jlos-cuculi 
(Ragged Robin), L. vespertina (White 
Campion), L. diurna (Red Campion), and 
L. Githago (the Corn Cockle). 
L. diurna is the food-plant of No. 4, 
Viscariella (which feeds also on Lychnis 
viscaria) and of No. 12, Moritzella ; but 
the larvae peculiar to the other species of 
Lychnis have yet to be discovered. 
The principal genera of the second 
suborder are Sagina, Arenaria, Stellaria 
and Ceraslium. On the two first-named 
genera none of these larvae have yet been 
found, though it would be very interesting 
to find the larva of a microscopic species 
of Gelechia attached to the pygmy plants 
of Sagina. Stellaria holoslea (Greater 
Stitchwort) is fed ou by the larva; of 
No. 1, Maculea, and No. 2, Tricolorella ; 
whilst S. uliginosa is the special food- 
plant of No. 3, Fraternella, though larvae 
of this last have also been found on 
Ceraslium vulgatum. 
It is also upon this last-named plant, or 
on some closely-allied species of Ceras- 
tium, that the recently discovered larvae of 
Gelechia marmorea browse, in a comical 
subterranean manner. The habitat of 
this species, the No. 10 of the group, is 
the shiltiug sand-hills of the coast, — 
sand-hills which are scarcely ever at rest, 
and which in very windy weather are 
real phenomena: yet these sand-hills arc 
