Ai!T. 9 DIGGEB WASPS OF GENUS PODALONIA FERNALD 29 



Arizona (general) . Dates of capture make it appear probable that 

 this species has two generations a year in the southern and one in 

 the northern part of its range. 



Types. — Cresson described the male from 20 specimens, one of 

 which he selected later as the type. This is now in the collection of 

 the American Entomological Society. At one time several of the 

 specimens bore a printed ''Type" label and these at least should 

 have the rank of paratypes. I saw the collection before the new 

 rating, just indicated, was made and it is my recollection that only 

 four or five bore the Type label and therefore the remainder would 

 rank only as other specimens present in the collection at the time 

 the description was written. Cresson, following his description, 

 made the unfortunate remark: "May be the male of A. luctuosa 

 Smith." This has been accepted by several workers as correct, and 

 has led to confusion of the two species to some extent. 



Saussure's type, or types, of mexicana I have not seen. They are 

 probably at Geneva. The words "abdomine coeruleo" are very sug- 

 gestive of the female argentifrons, but I hesitate to declare mexicana 

 a synonym, and leave it to some one who can see Saussure's specimens 

 to settle this point. Melander^ accepted Cresson's idea that this 

 insect is the male of luctuosa as correct, and so sunk Cresson's name 

 as a synonym, and Mickel did the same. I have seen some of the 

 male specimens named luctuosa by Carter ^ and they are argentifrons. 



The descriptions here given of both sexes are from a pair in the 

 collection of the California Academy of Sciences, taken by E. P. Van 

 Duzee, on March 9, 1916, ''along the edges of the sand dunes just 

 inside the seashore line about a mile south of the Cliff House and 

 near the radio station, San Francisco," ^^ modified only enough to 

 include certain variations seen in other specimens. The female of 

 this pair is therefore the allotype female of argentifrons, unless mexicana 

 Saussure proves to be the same. It will be found in the collection 

 of the California Academy of Sciences. 



The female of this species has puzzled students of the group from 

 the time when the male was first described. Conclusive evidence on 

 this was first obtained when, in 1918, 1 found in the collection of the 

 California Academy of Sciences at San Francisco two pairs, on two 

 pins, of these insects, the male in both cases being argentifrons and 

 the female not luctuosa but an insect hitherto undescribed by any 

 American entomologist. The loan of these specimens has enabled 

 me to prepare the above descriptions of the female and male from a 

 known pair. 



s Psyche, vol. 10, p. 158, 1903. 

 • Can. Ent., vol. 57, p. 132, 1925. 

 10 E. P. V. in a letter. 



