CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 19 



recorded the first specimen reared from the roots of Penstemon richard- 

 sonii, collected at The Dalles, Columbia River, Oreg., August 1937. With 

 this information it proved easy to obtain additional breeding material on 

 a subsequent visit to The Dalles in 1938 (Engelhardt). 



The food plant, ablaze with dark pink and red flowers, is conspicuous 

 along the highway. Wherever the plant was well established the borers 

 were found. They do not confine themselves to this particular plant, but 

 also attack other perennial species of Penstemon, provided the rootstock 

 is sufficiently strong to harbor the larvae. 



To breeding records, as yet limited to Columbia River and Blue Moun- 

 tain regions in Oregon, have been added the records of individual ex- 

 amples found, wrongly placed among other species, in the United States 

 National Museum collection. These are one dwarfed male, Beaver Creek, 

 Mont., 6,300 feet, August 1913 (S. J. Hunter) ; one male, Boulder Creek, 

 Calif., July 18, 1932; one male, San Diego County, Calif., August 7, 1935 

 (R. H. Beamer) ; and one female, Sonoma County, Calif. (Barnes col- 

 lection). The larvae, before pupating, construct a firm, silk-lined, oval 

 cocoon of frass and chips. The moths emerge from late in July to early 

 in September. 



PENSTEMONIA DAMMERSI. new species 



Plate 18, Figures 95, 96 



Sexes similar. 



Male. — ^Antennae black. Labial palpus yellow, mixed with black at the 

 tip. Head violaceous-black, face glossly blue-black. Collar yellow. 

 Thorax violaceous-black, patagia striped and metathorax edged with 

 yellow ; a small yellow patch before and a large one beneath the wing base. 

 Abdomen conspicuously banded with metallic black and bright yellow ; 

 segment 1 narrowly edged and segments 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 broadly banded 

 with yellow ; segment 3 with a small 3^ellow mark at the side ; on the 

 underside all segments except 3 dull yellow, with thin black transverse 

 lines between some of the segments ; segment 3 black ; anal tuft short, 

 black and yellow mixed, bearing two slender hair pencils, black above and 

 yellow at the base beneath, which extend well beyond the tip of the abdo- 

 men. Forelegs with femora pale yellow, those of hindlegs bright yellow; 

 and tibiae banded with black before posterior spurs ; tarsi shaded coppery 

 brown. Forewing heavily scaled, lustrous dark brown, slightly tinged 

 Vy-ith red on inner veins and margins and between the veins toward apex ; 

 a broad transparent area before and a narrow transparent area behind 

 the large discal mark. Hindwing transparent with narrow coppery 

 margins. Underside of forewings heavily tinged with yellow on basal half. 



Female. — Similar to the male. Forewing a lighter shade of brown and 

 beneath more dull yellow ; transparent areas before and behind discal 

 marks reduced. The black-and-yellow banding on abdominal segments 

 more evenly divided ; the short anal tuft yellow with a black streak at the 



