16 BULLETIN 190, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



until the recent discovery of the food plant, subsequent to which long series 

 have been obtained by rearing, showing that it is common, at least locally. 

 It is a root borer in various species of Penstemon but only in perennials of 

 strong growth and rootstock. At maturity the larva tunnels up into the 

 stalk a short distance above ground and pupates within the gallery with- 

 out constructing a cocoon, thus permitting the pupa to move up or down 

 at will. The larva prepares a circular exit, thinly covered by the outer 

 plant epidermis. In hot, desert regions at low elevations the moths begin 

 to emerge during May ; at higher elevations in cooler climate, in June, 

 July, and August. A hundred or more specimens of both sexes in about 

 equal numbers were reared from Penstemon centranthif alius, Oak Creek 

 Canyon (near Flagstaff ), Ariz., June- July 1936, and from P. parryi, Box 

 Canyon, Santa Rita, and Pima Mountains, Ariz., May to July 1936. Large 

 roots may harbor six or more individuals. Lack of breeding facilities alone 

 limited the number of specimens obtained. In addition, the larval work 

 was observed at Mesa Verde, Colo., on Penstemon strictus and P. 

 imilateralis ; at Desert Arboretum, Superior, Ariz., on P. eatonii; and in 

 Provo Canyon, Utah, on P. unilateralis. Records of captured specimens 

 in the United States National Museum are one female, Prescott, Ariz., 

 July 1-7, 1917 (Dyar) ; one female (Sesia utahensis, type), Bellevue, 

 Washington County, Utah, June 1904 (Engelhardt) ; and one female (S. 

 utahensis), Hualpai Mountains, Mohave, Ariz., May 24, 1931 (Barnes 

 collection). 



The discovery of the food plant and habits of edwardsii in 1936 led to 

 more extensive field investigations in California and other Pacific coast 

 regions, which so far have resulted in the discovery of four additional 

 species not heretofore recognized, all closely related in structures, as well 

 as in habits. This line of investigation has by no mea.ns been completed. 

 Vast regions in the Pacific Northwest, in the Rocky Mountains, and in 

 northern Mexico remain untouched. Undoubtedly several new species 

 belonging in Penstemonia await discovery. 



PENSTEMONIA HENNEI. new species 



Plate 17, Figures 91, 92 



Sexes dissimilar. 



Male. — Antennae black, pectinations fine. Labial palpus white, black 

 at tip. Head black, orbit white. Collar sordid white, mixed with yellow. 

 Thorax violaceous-black ; patagia with a pale-yellow stripe, broadening at 

 metathorax, which is tufted with long, fine, whitish hairs on the sides ; 

 prothorax with a small patch of flat yellow scales at the sides. Abdomen 

 black with bluish reflections, segments 4 and 8 broadly banded with sordid 

 white above, segments 1, 2, 4, and 5 edged with sordid white at the sides 

 and beneath and segment 7 sordid white only at the sides ; anal tuft fan- 

 shaped, black above, beneath white at the sides; claspers dull yellow. 



