414 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



CHLORION (PROTEROSPHEX) TEXANUM (Cresson). 



Sphex le.mna CressoxN, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, IV, 1872, p. 212. 

 S2Jhex texanm Kohl, Ann. natur. Hofmus. Wien, V, 1890, p. 427. 



Ti/pe. — " Five male and female specimens. (Belfrage; Boll.)" In 

 the collection of the American Entomolog'ical Society, in Philadelphia, 

 are about a dozen specimens of this insect from Texas, one bearing 

 Cresson's label, and which therefore must be regarded as one of the 

 tvpes. In the National Museum are two females and a male labeled 

 ''Texas Belfrage," ''Type No. 1088 U.8.N.M." In the collection at 

 Harvard College are two females marked "Dallas Tex. Boll Type." 

 Some one of these six must be a metatype or a homotype, but all are 

 correctl}^ identified at least. 



Rather slender insects; body black, except the abdomen, which may 

 be partly ferruginous; wings hyaline, slightly fuliginous on the outer 

 margins; pubescence pale golden to silver3^ 



Female. — Head broad, quadrangular, the cheeks being quite broad; 

 clypeus somewhat arched laterally, it and the frons thickly covered 

 with pale golden to silvery pubescence to a point above the antenna^ 

 and nearly to the ocelli in some cases, with long hairs of the same 

 color; the pubescence is less thick on the middle and anterior margin 

 of the clypeus, which is black, very minutely punctured, and also with 

 coarse punctures; anterior margin of the clypeus evenly rounded, not 

 noticeably reflexed, with a short, median, truncated projection, often 

 concealed by the pubescence; portion of the frons not covered by 

 pubescence minutely, sparsely punctured, sericeous; lateral ocelli 

 nearer the eyes than each other; vertex and cheeks punctured like the 

 frons; gray sericeous, the occiput and cheeks behind with a few pale 

 hairs, longer on the lower part of the cheeks, which are three-fourths 

 as wide as the eyes; inner margins of the eyes slightly converging 

 toward the clypeus; antenna black, the scape and pedicel with a dark 

 ferruginous tinge; the scape with numerous short, yellowish hairs on 

 its inner face, and a narrow, sericeous band in some cases; filament 

 yellowish-gray, sericeous, its first segment longest; mandible black, 

 with a ferruginous tinge from the base to the base of the teeth; with 

 scattered aciculations on the anterior face, a few yellowish hairs on 

 the inner edge, and a fringe of similar hairs on the lower edge of the 

 posterior face; when closed, the tip of a mandible reaches beyond the 

 base of the other. 



Thorax. — Collar pale sericeous, its dorsal edge yellowish-silvery 

 pubescent, the edge being slightly flattened in the middle; anterior 

 surface nearly vertical.^ with scattered, long, pale hairs; posterior face 

 not closely appressed against the mesonotum; prothoracic lobe 

 black, its posterior half covered with pale golden to silvery pubes- 

 cence, mingled with long, silvery hairs; mesonotum with a more 



