CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 35 



raspberries and blackberries is of minor importance. Adaptability to new 

 food plants is shown by the rearing of examples from the roots of roses, 

 submitted by a Palo Alto, Calif., nursery. Actual breeding records from 

 wild food plants as yet are limited and confined to the plant genus Poten- 

 tilla. From the strong rootsiocks of a species of this genus, growing on 

 hillsides adjacent to agricultural fields at Pullman, Wash., 2,500 feet, 1933 

 ( Engelhardt and Clarke ) , a number of specimens were reared, the moths 

 emerging in May and June 1934, one or rarely two from each root. The 

 experiment was repeated by R. D. Shenefelt, of Washington State College, 

 in 1930. His breeding material included the root of wild Geranium, col- 

 lected in association with the Potentilla roots ; it also produced a specimen 

 of bibionipennis. This host association is probably accidental. Heavier 

 infestations were noted in open woodlands, Modoc County, Calif., 5,000 

 feet, July 1928. Here, from patches of the massive, interlocking roots of 

 a low-growing species of Potentilla the moths had emerged in large num- 

 bers, and several were captured at this source. The season had advanced 

 too far for breeding. A similar observation has been reported by Crumlj 

 and Wilcox, of Puyallup, Wash. 



The great numbers of specimens received from inland States, Nevada, 

 Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, record 

 elevations up to 8,000 feet and dates of capture from June to August but 

 lack records on food plants. All specimens agree perfectly on structures, 

 both external and genitalic. Color variations in the males are slight, but 

 in the females they are considerable and present an array of confusing in- 

 tergradations which defy naming. Figure 104 (pi. 19) illustrates the 

 extreme color variation of a female selected from a series of otherwise 

 normal examples reared at Pullman, Wash. The specific name bibioni- 

 pennis Boisduval, 1869, has not been used in earlier check lists because of 

 insufftcient description and tlie supposed loss of the type. This type, how- 

 ever, has been found in a part of the Oberthiir collection, acquired by 

 William Barnes, and is now at the United States National Museum. It 

 bears the label in Boisduval's handwriting, "taken in flight in woods, 

 Calif.," without exact locality or date. The specimen is a male in a condi- 

 tion leaving no doubt as to its identity and hence must head the list of 

 names applied to the strawberry crown moth. 



RAMOSIA RESPLENDENS (Hy. Edwards) 



Plate 19, Figures 105, 106 



Alhima resplendens Hy. Edwards, Papilio, vol. 1. p. 186, 1881. — Beutenmuller, 



Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, p. 172, 1892. 

 Sesia mellinipennis Beutenmuller, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 279, 



1901. 

 Synanthedon mellinipennis McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada 



and the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8694. 1939. 



