April, '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 117 



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The North American Species of Chlorion. 



BY H. T. FERNALD, PH.D., Amherst, Mass. 



A careful study of a large number of specimens of the large 

 blue or greenish sphecid wasp received from all parts of North 

 America, where it occurs, has led to some conclusions which 

 may be of interest. 



This insect is labeled under various names in different col- 

 lections, those most frequently met with being Chlorion cceru- 

 leum Drury, C. ccenileum Linn, and C. cyaneiim Dahl., which 

 calls for an examination of the synonomy of the species. 



Linnaeus in the tenth edition of the Systema Naturae, I, p. 

 571 (1758), describes his twenty-second species of Sphex as 

 follows : ' 28. 6*. ccerulea, alis ferrugineis basi nigris. Mus. 

 De. Geer. Habitat in America meridionali. Magnitude Crab- 

 ronis. A\ze.ferrugine&, basi nigrce, apice albicantes. Antennae 

 basi nigra, apice ferruginete ." 



This is the first use of the specific name ccendea for a Sphex. 

 In the twelfth edition of the Systema Naturae, I, p. 947 (1766), 

 this description is copied word for word for the thirty-eighth 

 (and last) species of Sphex given in that work. But on page 

 941 of this same book, the second species under the genus 

 Sphex is also given the name c&rulea (!), and it is described 

 as follows : "2. .S". c<zrulea, alis fuscis. Amcen. acad. 6 p. 412. 

 n. 90. Catesb. car. 3. p. 5. t. 5 ? sed punctuni nulliim in alarum 

 apice. Habitat in America septentrionali." 



Comparison of these descriptions with the insect under con- 

 sideration shows that the one found in the tenth edition cannot 

 apply ; indeed, it would seem probable, as Dr. F. Fr. Kohl has 

 stated, that it is the description of some southern Pepsis. 

 Hence this description in both editions must be thrown out of 

 consideration. But its presence in the tenth edition of the 

 Systema Naturae makes the ccerulea described on page 941 of 

 the twelfth edition a preoccupied name, and we therefore have 

 for this last insect a description but no tenable name. The 

 description in itself might, perhaps, apply to the wasp here 

 treated, but it is too brief and vague to give any certainty, 

 though the reference in it to Catesby suggests a possible way 



