^>HV2.-\ -'77 



Description of a supposed new species of iEGERID^ from Virginia, 

 and observations upon PAPILIO DAUNUS Boisd. 



BY JAMES HIDINGS. 



^GERIA? QUINQUE-CAUDATA n. sp. (Fig. 1.*) 



Blue-black, shining; wings opaque, except the base of the secondaries 

 which is limpid; abdomen with five tail-like appendages, and the third 

 dorsal segment red. 



Hah. Virginia. 



% . Body shining blue-black. Antennse two-thirds the length of the 

 body, stout, ciliate on the inside, apex strongly curved, and tipped with a 

 pencil of hairs. Palpi shining black, obliquely ascend- pi^. | 



ing, fii'st and second joints stout, pilose, third joint 

 naked, slender, rather long and acute. Spiral tongue 

 long, yellowish. Thorax black, glossy, densely pilose. 

 Abdomen somewhat cylindrical, slightly'broader near 

 the apex, with seven segments, bluish-black, shining, 

 third dorsal segment bright red with the anterior mar- 

 gin black; from the posterior margin of the sixth segment proceeds four 

 tail-like appendages, one on each side and two on the top; those on the 

 top are rather more than two lines long, thickened or tufted at their tips, 

 and somewhat erect; from the top of the seventh segment, which is long 

 and narrow, arises another tail-like appendage almost two lines long, and 

 also tufted at the tip and somewhat erect.. Legs brownish-black ; posteri- 

 or tibia) robust and densely pilose; tarsi slender, brown ; tibial spurs of 

 the middle and posterior legs very long and acute. Wings brown, with 

 bluish-green reflections, darker towards the base; secondaries limped at 

 their base. Length of the body 7 lines. Expanse of the wings 12 lines. 



Ohs. This remarkable species was captured by myself in Middletown, 

 Frederick County, Virginia, and is now in the collection of the Entomo- 

 logical Society of Philadelphia. As its opaque secondaries, long spiral 

 tongue &c., exclude it from the genus TrocJii/ium, I have with some doubt, 

 referred it to jEfjeria, although I have not been able to find any species 

 of jEgtria described as having such remarkable appendages as are pos- 

 sessed by this species. 



* Although the figure given is not i)ei;feetly sj^mmetrical, it will serve tofconvey 

 an idea of the appearance of this remarkable insect. The left wings are, however, 

 correct. 



