294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxi. 



restored, the consequence would be that Sphex would replace Tachy- 

 sphex as a genus of the Larridte, and the terms Sphecinti?, Sphecidse, 

 and probably Sphegoidea as well would hav^e to be abandoned. 



As selection of the t3^pe by elimination would in the present case 

 therefore produce great confusion not onl}^ in the group immediately 

 concerned but in the Larrid* as well, it seems desirable to turn to 

 the fourth recommendation of the Code, which is to "select as type 

 the species which is best described, best figured, or best known." On 

 this basis of selection only two of the species given by Linnaeus in 

 1758 need consideration, namely, mhulosa and sjylrlfex. Of these, the 

 latter is omitted ])y Linnteus from his Fauna Suecica, indicating that 

 his familiarity with it was not as great as with .^ibulosa., which is 

 included in that work. That sahulo><a is also in general the best known 

 is indicated by the fact that in Dalla Torre's Catalogue there are 115 

 references to that species, and only 50 to spirifex. If page precedence 

 be given any weight in the selection of the type, mhulosa should be 

 chosen, as it precedes Hplrlfex; while those who regard the iirst species 

 of the genus as the type would here either have to make the tj^pe 

 argillacea from Surinam, a species which has not since been recog- 

 nized, thus removing Sphex as a generic name together with its 

 subfamily and famii}^ compounds from use until argillacea is redis- 

 covered, or, rejecting this, take the second species — sahulosa again — 

 as the type. 



Following the literature on Sphex down to the nineteenth century 

 we find that almost everj^ writer on the group VQCogniz^d sahuloxa as a 

 Sphrx.^ wherever he might place the other species, and tliat even after 

 Kirby had placed it in Aiintiophila., in 1798, this change was onl}^ very 

 slowly adopted, as a new group of species grew up around the genus 

 SjjJiex. 



For these reasons then, it seems best to regard mhulosa as the type 

 of the genus Sphex and allow Ammophila to sink into sjaionomy 

 together with the subfamily Ammophilinte. 



In this way the names Sphex, Sphecinw, and Sphecidte may be 

 saved for use in this group though appljing to a diii'erent subdivision, 

 but the insects hitherto called Sphex must receive another name. For 

 this purpose the oldest subgenus, Chlorion, first proposed as generic 

 in value, may be raised again to that grade and also form the basis for 

 the new su])family name Chlorionin^e, which replaces the Sphecinaa in 

 this place. A new name for the former subgenus S-pliex is also needed, 

 and for this (no sjaionj'ms existing) the writer" has proposed the term 

 Proterosphex (from Trporepog older, c^//^ wasp) suggesting the name 

 used for these insects during the last century. 



« Entomological News, June, 1905. 



