884 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



rather than internal; the anal vein sometimes eontinues a shoi't dis- 

 tance heyond the transverse median; the main (terminal) tooth of the 

 mandible is wry loiio- in unworn examples, reaching nearly to the base 

 of the other jaw, and is black, making nearly half the mandible black; 

 there are three teeth to the mandible, the middle one the shortest; the 

 hind eoxa^ are sometimes pubescent on all sides, the middle pair 

 slightly so; a distinct frontal suture is sometimes evident. 



Hale. — Ditl'ers from the female as follows: Body ferruginous but 

 with more dark and black; anterior edge of clypeus slightly retlexed; 

 scape of antenna varying from dark ferruginous to black varied with 

 ferruginous; rest of antenna black exce[)t the pedicel and part of the 

 first filament segment which may be somewhat ferruginous; first fila- 

 ment segment the longest, the relative proportions being ^\, fi, i\, ^\\ 

 mandible dark, but not black, except the tip and base of the posterior 

 tooth; two toothed; thorax varying in color from reddish ferruginous 

 to nearl}' black; petiole and legs darker than in the female, often 

 nearly or (]uite black; pubescence everywhere clear white; hinder 

 margin of the third, and the fourth and fifth ventral abdominal plates 

 black, silky sericeous; the others posterior are ferruginous and slightly 

 pubescent; last dorsal abdominal plate conical with rounded tij); mar- 

 gin of fore wing fainth^ fuliginous. 



Length. — Females, 15-20 mm.; males, 10-19 nun. 



This beautiful and interesting species has been taken in southern 

 California, chiefiy in Los Angeles County; in Arizona, and in New 

 Mexico. The pubescence seems to be more yellow in the California 

 specimens than in those taken elsewhere. 1 have studied specimens 

 captured ait Albuipierque, New Mexico; Congress Junction, Arizona, 

 July; Bill Williams Fork, Arizona, August; and Bincon, New Mexico, 

 Jul}' 5, taken on mescpiite. 



This insect is far from being a typical Prloxonyx, and for along time 

 the writer was inclined to place it in the sul)genus IVtrasjj/ie.t. The 

 clypeal characters, the general form of the body and its color, and that 

 of its pubescence, all suggest a close relationship to I\irmphex^ which 

 is confirmed by the first filament segment of the male antenna, which 

 is the longest, while in the species of Prhmonyx this is not the case in 

 that sex. No representative of Pdrasphex has thus far been discovered 

 in the New World, and as in some regards (the presence of six claw 

 teeth instead of three or four, for example) this species fails to meet 

 the characters designated for Pamsphea'^ it seems best to retain it in 

 l*ri(>nonyu\ though it is one of those intermediate forms already 

 alluded to which prevent the groups termed subgenera in this paper 

 being given full generic value. 



There is an excellent figure of this insect in The Insect Book, by 

 Dr. L. O. Howard, on Plate XI, fig. t). 



