504 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW-YORK 
which may frequently be seen during the month of May, flying 
by day or resting exposed upon the leaves, in forests and along 
their borders. 
The moth (plate 4, fig. 6, the cross lines above the left wing indicating its 
natural dimensions) measures 0.35 across its wings when they are spread. 
The fore wings arc brilliant steel blue or sometimes bluish green, with a purple 
reflection, and without any spots. The mid-vein forms a deep groove, length¬ 
wise, from the base parallel with the inner margin almost to its tip, and on 
the middle of the wing towards the tip is another similar groove. The tips of 
these wings are commonly bent inwards, giving them when closed, the appear¬ 
ance of a little pod enveloping the abdomen. Their fringe is black interspersed 
with scales of brilliant blue- On their under sides they are dusky with a 
grayish silvery lustre and a pale purple reflection. The hind wings are pale 
smoky brown and translucent, with pale blue and purple reflections, and their 
fringe is pale brown. The head on the crown and between the antennae has a 
dense tuft of erect bright orange yellow hairs. The feelers are straight, thread¬ 
like, shorter than the head, inclined obliquely downwards and forwards, of a 
gray color. The antenna) are black-brown, very thick and robust, thread-like, 
their tips curved and often spirally coiled. In the males they show a short 
spine-like tooth on each side of the apex of each joint, giving them a doubly 
serrated appearance. The thorax is brilliant steel blue. The abdomen is 
quite short and conical in the males, cylindrical and with a thin tuft of hairs 
at its tip in the female. In common with the under side and the legs, it 
is dark brown with a strong satin-like lustre, the feet being whitish. 
This moth pertains to the Family Tineidie of the Order Lepi- 
doptera. Many of the members of this family reside in mova¬ 
ble cases of various kinds, which they construct from the sub¬ 
stances on which they feed. The clothes’ moths, furrier moths, 
and others thus fabricate garments for their covering. Others 
roll pieces of leaves into cylindrical or conical tubes, within 
which they reside. And a few cut out circular pieces from 
leaves and stitch them together as it were, like the insect we 
have now described. The moths having this last habit pertain 
to the genus Ornix of Treitschke, one of the Greek terms for a 
bird, the wings of some of these moths resembling those of par¬ 
ticular birds, which has led to their being named the goose¬ 
winged, turkey-winged, &c. The species under consideration, 
however, will be best distinguished by the name of the tree 
which it infests, and I accordingly call it Ornix Jlcerifoliellus, or 
the Maple leaf cutter. In the arrangement of the British ento¬ 
mologists it would probably be referred to Mr. Curtis’s genus 
Eriocephala, 
