412 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Abdomen black with a broad band on tergum 2 and lateral patches 

 on terga 3, 4, and 5, which may be connected by a broken line along 

 the posterior margins of the terga; venter black, pygidium slender 

 and elongate with both ends blunt. 



Structurally, C. fumipennis Say is very close to C. califomica 

 Cresson and C. dilatata Spinola, but the color patterns are quite 

 different. 



Figures 36-38. — Localities of: 36, C. fumipennis Say; 37, C. grandis grandis Banks; 38, 

 C. grandis percna Scullen. 



Types. — Say's type male, from Indiana, apparently is lost. A 

 neotype male, from 3 miles west of Kaskaskia River, Boulder, 111., 

 June 21, 1938 (D. Bolinger), has been designated by the writer and 

 is deposited at the U.S. National Museum. The type male of C. 

 cincta Dahlbom, from "America," is at the Universitets Zoologiska 

 Institution, Lund, Sweden. The type female of C. unicincta 

 Taschenberg, from "Tenn.," should be at the Zoologisches Institut, 

 Martin-Luther-Universitat, Halle (Saale), Germany. 



Distribution. — East of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic 

 States and from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Prey record. — The prey-coUecting habits of C. fumipennis Say 

 have been observed by more workers than any other species of Cer- 

 ceris. With the exception reported below by Bridwell, the prey 

 always has been some species of Buprestidae. The following quo- 

 tation from unpublished notes by J. C. Bridwell, on file at the U.S. 

 National Museum, is of special interest in this connection : 



This species belongs to a natural group in Cerceris, of which the species 

 in many parts of the world all, so far as known, store their nests with adult 

 Buprestidae. 



The season of flight for Buprestidae ends about August 1st but the wasps 

 are then still active. The material below illustrates the substitute used 

 when Buprestidae are no longer present. 



