♦^'"^ [December 



the work is purely a '' labor of love." a few copies only are to be issued, 

 aud those intended solely for private distribution and foreign exchange. 



Could the material for the purpose have been obtained, the above 

 volume would also have embraced figures of the larvae and pupae of 

 each species, thereby rendering it complete, and greatly enhancing its 

 value. But before our Sphingidae can be thus fully represented, much 

 work remains to be done. With a view to its speedy accomplishment, 

 it is very desirable that each collector should carefully preserve such 

 pupaj as do not develop, and of the more rare species, even the pup.i- 

 case, from which the imago has emerged, which frequently admits of 

 such repair as to retain all its original features. Collections of the 

 larvae in alcohol should be made which will prove most useful in de- 

 scription, and for the purpose of figuring ; and wherever the skill is 

 possessed or can be commanded, let colored drawings of the larva also 

 be secured. 



A reasonable degree of effort, in the direction above suggested, on 

 the part of each Lepidopterist at present enrolled as a member of the 

 Entomological Society of Philadelphia, will very soon place us in the 

 possession of all that is needed for a full history and representation of 

 the interesting and attractive family of the Sphingida;, — richly deserv- 

 ing of all the labor which its perfect delineation would require. 



Descriptions of two new species of MASARIS. 

 BY E. T. CRESSON. 



In a large collection of Hymenoptera. collected by Mr. James Riding.s 

 during the summer of 1864. in the mountain region of (Colorado Terri- 

 tory, I find numerous specimens of two undescribed species of Masari'x, 

 as well as of M. vespoidcs. previously described in these Proceedings. 

 The latter species, the only member of the genus heretofore known in 

 America, was first obtained in Colorado Territory, and from the fact 

 that at the time the description was published, I had only three (IS, 

 1 9 ) specimens, I was not aware of the many variations, which I have 

 since discovered, in this species. T propose, therefore, in this paper, to 



