CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 111 



in parks, and in gardens are attacked with preference and at times heavily, 

 sometimes causing death. Trees in wild woodlands suffer less seriously. 

 The larvae bore in the living wood, excavating galleries several inches long. 

 After wintering in its burrow, the larva prepares a thin cocoon giving 

 access to an exit covered thinly by the outer bark. The moths emerge in 

 June and July or in the South as early as March and April. Besides ash, 

 the borer is partial as well to other trees and shrubs of the family 

 Oleaceae, including European introductions, although Ligustrmn appears 

 to be the exception. In the Botanical Garden, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1910-1915, 

 the insect interfered seriously with the development of an extensive planta- 

 tion of Syringa, and fringetrees {ChionantJms) also were attacked. Para- 

 sites very largely are responsible for checking heavy infestations. Wood- 

 peckers also take a heavy toll. In recent years it appears the insect has 

 become far less abundant. 



Records of syringae in the United States National Museum : Male and 

 females, Columbus, Ohio (W. N. Tallant) ; Decatur, 111. (Barnes); 

 Washington, D. C. (H. G. Dyar) ; Botanical Garden, Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 June 5, 1914 (Engelhardt) ; Delchamps, Mobile, Ala., April 7, 1933 

 (Engelhardt) ; Staten Island, N. Y., June 25, 1927 (W. T. Davis) ; 

 College Station, Tex., March 31, 1928 (Engelhardt) ; Willard, Mo., June 



1914 (A. E. Brower) ; State College, Pa., May 16 (Geo. C. Butz) ; 

 Pittsburgh. Pa., June 12; Biltmore, S. C, from European ash. May 15, 



1915 (F. E. Brooks) ; Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minn., 

 May 1, 1890, and forced emergence, March 23, 1877. 



The race fraxiiii has been reported as causing serious injury in Texas. 

 Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, and Manitoba, Canada, attacking with 

 preference young ash trees planted in public squares and parks. In 

 severe cases a tree may contain 50 or more of the borers, and the chance 

 of its survival is small. 



Records of fraxini in the United States National Museum : Males 

 and females, Experiment Station, St. Paul, Minn., May 17, 1887; Ramsey 

 County, Minn. ; North Dakota from ash twigs (J. A. Munroe) ; Bozeman, 

 Mont. (Allen Mail) ; Denver, Colo. (Oslar) ; Miles City, Mont., on 

 ash, May 19, 1891 (Ch. A. Wiley) ; Akrow, Colo., on ash, July 17, 1916 

 (H. L. Shantz). 



Kellicott (1891) reports rearing P. syringae from the trunks of 

 mountain-ash, Sorbiis americana, on the university campus, Columbus, 

 Ohio. I am unable to confirm this record. The only aegeriids I have 

 found partial to mountain-ash are Thamnosphecia scitula and pyri. 



Genus THAMNOSPHECIA Spuler 



Thamnosphecia Spuler, Die Schmetlerlinge Europas, vol. 2, p. 308, 1910. (Genotype, 

 Sphinx culiciformis Linnaeus.) 



Tongue long, spiraled. Labial palpus with second joint having a 

 strong, uneven brush; third joint short, blunt. Antennae of male with 



