66 BULLETIN 190, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



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



vol. 3, p. 224, 1888. — Beutenmijller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 4, 



p. 175, 1892. 

 Sesia texana Beutenmuller, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 304, 



pi. 31, fig. 4 (female, not male), 1901. 

 Synanthedon texana McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and 



the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8742, 1939. 



Male. — Antennae strong, black, with a bluish luster, pectinations short. 

 Labial palpus orange, third joint black toward the tip. Head inetallic 

 black. Collar orange. Thorax lustrous blue or green-black ; patagia con- 

 spicuously striped and metathorax transversely edged with orange or red ; 

 orange or red patches on the sides and underside. Abdomen sbiny blue- 

 black; segments 2, 4, 6, and 7 evenly banded above with deep orange or 

 red, band on segment 2 not extending beneath, but bands on seginents 4, 

 6, and 7 uniting with that on segment 5 into one deep orange or red patch ; 

 anal tuft fan-shaped, angular at base, rounded at lip, violet-black, orange 

 at the edges and in center beneath. Legs lustrous purplish black, posterior 

 tibiae golden yellow on the inner side and ringed at the spurs with the same 

 color; tarsi ringed with yellow at the joints. Forewing with veins 10 and 

 11 coincident, heavily scaled, violaceous-black, transparent areas much 

 reduced, the outer one more or less suffused with orange, the inner one 

 clear, narrowly triangular, extending to wing base ; discal mark large, 

 square, lustrous purple ; fringes dark brownish black ; underside heavily 

 shaded with orange from discal mark to wing base. Hindwing trans- 

 parent, with black margin and brownish-black fringes alx)ve and beneath. 



Female. — Similar to the male but with forewing more opaque, the outer 

 clear area being obscured with orange and purplish scales and the inner one 

 reduced to a short, narrow slit, not reaching the wing base; an orange 

 streak between the veins before the inner margin on basal half. Abdomen 

 with an orange or red band on segments 2, 4, and 6 and sometimes a fainter 

 band indicated on segment 5 above ; beneath the bands broadening and 

 nearly uniting on segments 4, 5, and 6 ; anal tuft glossy black, short, 

 rounded, indented centrally. 



Expanse : Male and female 18 to 22 mm. 



Distribution. — Florida, coastal regions of Gulf of Mexico to Texas. 



Type. — Female, from Texas. In the United States National Museum. 



Remarks. — This species, contrastingly marked with orange or red and 

 lustrous black, does not readily suggest its near kinship to bassiformis, but 

 this affinity is evident froin its structure and habits. Its resemblance to 

 floridensis has caused confusion, though the two species are not closely 

 related. 



The principal food plant of texana is Eupatorium serotinum, a com- 

 posite that grows luxuriously in moist places throughout Florida and in the 

 coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. The larvae bore in the 

 roots and stalks, numbers of them in large plants. Rearings from Arte- 



