230 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 216 



Va., Aug. 31, N. Banks (Cambridge). d\ Mount Vernon, Va., 

 July 16, 1944, H. Townes (Townes). 



This species is transcontinental in the Transition and Upper Austral 

 zones. Its habitat is the underbrush of dry, rather open deciduous 

 woods. 



4. Genus Acrodactyla 



Figure 294,a 



Barypus Haliday, 1837, In Curtis, A guide to an arrangement of British insects, 

 ed. 2, p. 94. Name preoccupied. Type: Barypus degener Haliday; desig- 

 nated by Westwood, 1839. 



Acrodactyla Haliday, 1838, Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, p. 117. New name for 

 Barypus. 



Colpomeria Holmgren, 1859, Ofvers. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. Forh., vol. 16, 

 p. 126. New synonymy. Type: {Colpomeria laevigata Holmgren) = quad- 

 risculpta Gravenhorst; monobasic. 



Symphylus Foerster, 1871, Verh. Naturh. Ver. Rheinlande, vol. 28, p. 105. Name 

 preoccupied. Type: (Symphylus hadrodactylus Foerster) = degener Haliday; 

 original designation. 



Polemophthorus Schulz, 1911, Zool. Ann., vol. 4, p. 22. New name for Symphylus. 



Front wing 2.7 to 6.0 mm. long; eye bare; clypeus broadly lenticular, 

 separated from face by a groove, strongly convex in both transverse 

 and longitudinal directions, the apical half a little flattened and the 

 apical margin weakly reflexed; epomia strong, straight, transversing 

 ventral marginal swelling of pronotum; mesoscutum polished, largely 

 or almost entirely bare, its median lobe on each side in front with a 

 short, sharp, vertical carina (this is the only genus of Polysphinctini 

 with this character); notaulus long and strong; prepectal carina com- 

 plete, its dorsal end distant from front edge of mesopleurum; pleural 

 carina complete; legs moderately slender to very slender; areolet 

 absent; intercubitus 0.1 to 0.4 as long as second abscissa of cubitus; 

 nervulus postfurcal by 0.25 to 0.6 its length; discoid ella present or 

 absent, usually present but weak; first tergite rather elongate; second 

 to fourth tergites polished, hardly at all punctate, their hairs sparse 

 and usually restricted to the sides and the transverse grooves, each 

 of the segments with a central transverse rhombic area weakly 

 bounded by broad grooves, the rhombic areas weakly swollen laterally; 

 ovipositor sheath about 2.0 as long as apical depth of abdomen; ovi- 

 positor with a weak median swelling, gradually tapered thence to the 

 apex, the apical third weakly upcurved (fig. 332,f). 



The cocoons of three species of Acrodactyla (degener, ocellata, and 

 quadrisculpta) are known. In all three the cocoons are rather dense, 

 spindle-shaped, and with four longitudinal ribs which make them 

 quadrate in cross section. The cocoon of Eruga is similar in shape, 

 but in the other Polysphinctini it is always round in cross section. 



