HELIOPETES. — HESPERIA. 449 



We have six specimens of this species, all of them apparently females, so that we 

 cannot with certainty determine its position. From the markings of the underside it 

 resembles to some extent H. laviana, but may readily be distinguished on the upper- 

 side by the wide dark outer border to the wings and the large extent of the dark apex 

 to the primaries. 



HESPERIA. 



Hesperia, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. iii. p. 258 (1793); Scudd. Pr. Am. Ac. Arts & Sc. x. p. 187; 



Wats. P. Z. S. 1893, p. 64. 

 Pyrgus, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schm. p. 109; Plotz, Mitth. nat. Ver. Neu.-Vorp. u. Rug. xv. p. 1. 



The genus Hesperia, formerly of wide and indefinite limits, has now been restricted 

 to the comparatively small group of Hesperiidae of which //. malvce is the type. Thus 

 curtailed it contains forty or fifty species which are scattered over the temperate and 

 tropical portions of a large portion of the world. 



Capt. Watson divides Hesperia into four sections, defining them by the presence or 

 absence of such male characters as a costal fold to the primaries and a tuft of hair at 

 the proximal end of the hind tibiae ; this is also Plotz's arrangement : but these authors 

 do not always assign the same species to the same section, and we have reason to differ 

 from both, so that we have been unable to make use of either memoir in our account 

 of the three species here treated of. These readily fall into three divisions as 

 follows : — 



A. A costal fold and a tuft on the hind tibiae syrichtus. 



B. A costal fold but no tuft on the hind tibiae montivaga. 



C. No costal fold, no tuft on the hind tibiae notata. 



Plotz (loe. cit.) names several other forms from Mexico and Central America, 

 but we have quite failed to recognize them from his tabular descriptions. They are 

 albescens (p. 4) from Mexico, insolatrix (p. 4) from Mexico, ajutrix (p. 15) from Mexico, 

 lycurgus (p. 18) from Central America, varus (p. 20) from Mexico. 



The genus Hesperia belongs strictly to the section of the family with the antennas 

 distinctly blunt and the club well defined. The harpes of the male genitalia are 

 symmetrical, the reverse being particularly the case in the genus Thanaos. 



l. Hesperia syrichtus, (Tab. xc. fig. 27 6 .) 



Papilio syrichtus, Fabr. Syst. Ent. p. 534 \ 



Hesperia syrichtus, Scudder, Rep. Peab. Ac. Sc. 1871, p. 73 2 ; Plotz, Mitth. nat. Ver. Neu-Vorp. 



u. Rug. v. p. 14 3 . 

 Pyrgus syrichtus, Butl. & Druce, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 369 4 . 

 Papilio orcus, Cr. Pap. Ex. t. 334. ff. I, K, L 5 . 



Alis fuscis, ad basin dense glauco pilosis ; anticis ciliis fuscis, ad angulum analem albo interruptis, eosta ad basin 

 alba ad apicera punctis albis notata, stria elongata supra venam subcostalem, macula elongata ultra 

 ramum suum primum, duabus ultra ramum secundum, tribus ultra ramum terfcium, quatuor ultra ramum 



biol. centr.-amek., Rhopal., Vol. II., April 1899. 3 m 



