40 
fourth of the total number of species occurring in Britain and about 
one-fifteenth of the European Tineina. I feel sure that if the Tineina 
were properly worked for, another 60 or more species might be obtained 
in the district. In support of this supposition I can point to the fact 
that we have 28 out of the 80 species of the genus Coleophora, and 
this is the only group that has really been worked at so far. The 
Gelechiads, the genera Elachista, Lithncolletis, and Nepticula, will surely 
furnish several additional species when proper search is made. 
Nearly all the species found in the district belong to the Mid- 
European Fauna; a few such as Oecophora sulphurella, Lithocolletis 
inessaniella, and Elachista rufocinera appear to lean towards the south 
or west in their distribution, as does Gelechia dowestica, Gelecliia costella, 
and Coleophora bicorella, and albicosta seem to favour England and 
Holland, while Tinea pallescentella particularly patronises England and 
the neighbourhood of Vienna. Coleophora ylaucicolella, an easily over¬ 
looked species, has as yet only been recorded in England. Coleophora 
saturatella was also confined to England till it was discovered in 
Belgium, and this is more remarkable because it is a conspicuous 
insect and feeds on the common broom, a plant of European distribu¬ 
tion. However, the history of the Tineina has been written by so 
comparatively few hands, and these small insects so easily escape 
observation, that the records must necessarily be very incomplete, and 
it does not follow that, because a species is not recorded from a certain 
area, that it does not exist there. 
Among the oldest micro-lepidopterous inhabitants are doubtless 
the rush feeders, such as Glyphipteryx thrasonella and the cespititiella 
group of the Coleophorids, these doubtless abounded in the marshes of 
the Thames Valley long before even the early Briton wandered beside 
the river. As soon as the deciduous trees became established they 
were probably mined by Lithocolletis and Nepticula. 
Indeed there seems no reason to doubt that nearly all the species 
which are now found in the district were also inhabitants of it in those 
early days. 
Among the trees the whitethorn seems to have been later in 
returning to Britain after the last glacial period, and its re-introduction, 
in whatever way it occurred, may have brought a few additional species 
into the area, though many of the whitethorn-feeding species also eat 
wild apple. The Romans may have brought a few species with them, 
such as Lithocolletis inessaniella when they introduced the Quercus ilex 
into Britain, or possibly one or two of the House moths [Tinea). 
Oinopliila v-flavum, which occurs in wine vaults and similar 
situations, and is not usually met with away from towns, may be 
looked on as an importation, and was probably introduced in the corks 
of wine bottles. The larva often bores into the cork while the wine is 
still in the bottle, and it seems to have a partiality to old port and 
champagne. 
Commerce is doubtless responsible for the introduction of Borli- 
liausenia pseudospretella, Tineola biselliella, and Tinea pallescentella, and 
possibly also for Endrosis lacteella ; these species, feeding in the larval 
state on feathers, skins, or dry goods, are very liable to be imported. 
We have seen to how great an extent the original heathlands and 
forests have been converted into streets and human dwellings, and 
this process is now going on with greater rapidity. The meadows and 
