CLEAK-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERllDAE 23 



Forewing opaque, lustrous green-black, streaked bright red on inner 

 margin basally, fringes brownish, beneath dull red at the wing base. 

 Hindwing transparent, veins and narrow margin black, fringes brownish. 



This description is based on a well-marked, bred specimen. The species 

 is variable, particularly in the red bands on abdominal segments, which 

 intergrade from broad to narrow bands or are absent. The posterior 

 tibiae vary from broadly banded with red to wholly black. 



Female. — Head, thorax, abdomen, legs, and forewings like those of the 

 male ; hindwings opaque, red, broadly flushed with black from the mar- 

 gins inward, beneath red, margins black, narrower. 



RAMOSIA POLYGONI variety ANIMOSA (Hy. Edwards) 



Pyrrhotacnia anhnosa Hy. Edwards, Papilio, vol. 3, p. 156, 1883 ; Ent. Amer., vol. 3, 



p. 224, 1888.— Beutenmuller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, p. 175, 1892; 



vol. 8, p. 146. 1896. 

 Scsia animosa Beutenmuller, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 310, 



pi. 31, fig. 29 (male), fig. 30 (female), 1901. 

 Synanihedon animosa McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and 



the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8754, 1939. 



Male. — Like the male of polygoni, except that the legs are wholly black 

 and the abdomen is red above only on the last two or three segments and 

 at the sides cephalad to seginents 4 or 3, subject to individual variation. 



Female. — Differs from the female of achillae by the wholly black legs 

 and the wholly black hindwings. The abdomen is all black or shaded with 

 red on only the last segment and at the sides. 



Expanse: Male 15 to 20 mm., female 18 to 22 mm. 



Distribution. — California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado. 



Type. — Male. In the United States National Museum. 



Remarks. — Few of the biological groups in the Aegeriidae are subject 

 to as much color variation as the one here designated as the buckwheat 

 root borer. With insufficient and often imperfect examples at their dis- 

 posal, it is not surprising that early authors failed to distinguish between 

 species and color varieties. However, in external structures and in struc- 

 tures of the genitalia these borers are so alike they must be considered 

 conspecific. 



The uniting with polygoni of achillae, animosa, and helianthi as color 

 varieties or geographical races is based on extensive biological field work. 

 R. praestans on the same grounds is continued as a separate species. The 

 status of jragariae and its several varieties and races, on the other hand, 

 still remains a problem. Only a few examples have been reared, and, in 

 view of its wide distribution from along the Pacific coast to Alaska and 

 inland to and throughout the Rocky Mountain system, much remains to 

 be done to clear the confusion. 



The early stages, habits, and food plant of polygoni were first described 

 and illustrated by F. X. Williams (Ent. News, vol. 20, p. 59, pi. 5, 1909). 



