NO. 1487. NORTH AMERICAN DIGGER WASPS— FERNALD. 407 



Wings. — Strongly fulio-inous, with astronj^ bluish to violet reflection 

 inside the outer ends of the cells, beyond which it is al)sent; transv^erse 

 median vein of the hind wing nearl}^ straight, making a little more 

 than a right angle with the median vein; discoidal vein nearly inter- 

 stitial; the median, cubital, and subdiscoidal veins of both wings well 

 developed beyond the ends of the cells; teguh\i black, sericeous. 



Legs. — All the coxjb, trochanters, and femora grayish sericeous, 

 with scattered punctures and hairs least developed on the hinder pair; 

 tibial and tarsal spines black; inner contour of hind til)ia^ straight, the 

 hinder face coarsely sericeous; fore metatarsus with nine com!) teeth, 

 shorter than half the metatarsus; the fringe on the hind tibial spine is 

 coarse, almost tooth-like; tarsi rather sericeous. 



]\[aU. — Dilfers from the female as follows: with more or less of 

 silvery pubescence on the front of the head; generally with a small, 

 silvery pubescent spot on the mesopleuron behind the prothoracic 

 lobe; sometimes one at the base of the hind coxa, and rarely, one in 

 the form of a crescent above the petiole and one on the posterior side 

 of the hind coxa; seventh ventral abdominal plate quite deeply exca- 

 vated behind and with a tuft of black hairs at each side; terminal ven- 

 tral plate frequently densely clothed with pale brownish hairs. 



Length. — Females, 26-34 mm.; males, 19-28 mm. 



This insect is quite conmion in the United States throughout the 

 Upper and Lower Austral life zones. The most northern localities 

 from which 1 have seen specimens are Durham, New Hampshire; 

 Maiden and Amherst, Massachusetts; New York, Indiana, Michigan, 

 and Minnesota. From these States it is generally distributed to 

 Georgia and Texas, while in the West I have seen examples from 

 Folsom and Eldorado counties, California; and^ from Fort Lupton, 

 Colorado. It should also occur in the mountainous regions of Mexico. 



Howard (The Insect Book, Plate VII, fig. 20) gives a good picture 

 of this insect. 



CHLORION (PROTEROSPHEX) CHICHIMECUM (Saussure). 



Sphex chichhnecus Savssvrk, Reise d. Novara, Hym., 1867, p. 40. 

 Sphex chichimeca Cameron, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Hym., II, 1889, p. 33, pi. iii, 

 figs. 6, 6a 



Sphex chichimecvs Kohl, Ann. natur. Hofmus. Wien, V, 1890, p. 420. 



F'emale. — U nk n o w n . 



Jf«Zt^— Black, with silvery white pubescent spots; wings transparent 

 except on the outer margins and along the veins, where they are fuligi- 

 nous, with faint bluish- violet reflection; rather slender insects. 



Head.^ClmiQ broad and somewhat quadrangular from above, though 

 the cheeks retreat sharply from the hinder margin of the eyes; clypeus 

 somewhat arched laterally, with a slight longitudinal ridge on its upper 

 third; black, rather sparsely silvery pubescent, least in the middle, and 



