112 BULLETIN 190, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



short, fine pectinations ; of female, simple. Forev/ing with 12 veins, 7 

 and 8 stalked to costa, 10 and 11 separate. Hindwing with veins 3 and 

 4 stalked, 5 nearer to 6 than to 4. Posterior tibiae nearly smooth, tufted 

 at spurs ; first tarsal joint not thickened. Male genitalia having sacculus 

 ridge with stifif spines, not bifid scales, in a slightly curved longitudinal 

 group ending before the margin of sacculus ; aedeagus straight, bulbous 

 at base ; cornuti short spined. 



THAMNOSPHECIA CULICIFORMIS (Linnaeus) 



Plate 2, Figure 12 ; Plate 7, Figures 39, 39a ; Plate 14, Figure 69 



Sphinx culiciformis Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, p. 493, 1758. — Clerck, Icones 



insectorum rariorium cum nominibus eorum trivialibus, pi. 9, fig. 3, 1759. 

 Sesia culiciformis Fabricius, Systema entomologiae, p. 549 (in part), 1775. — 



Beutenmuller, Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 294, 1901. 

 Aegeria culiciformis Stephens, Illustrations of British entomology: Hanstellata, vol. 



1, p. 143, pi. 10, fig. 3, 1828. 

 Synanthedon culiciformis McDunnough, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada 



and the United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8725, 1939. 



This European species is included on the basis of one male example re- 

 corded from Kukak Bay, Alaskan Peninsula, July 1, 1899 (Harriman Ex- 

 pedition, T. Kincaid, collector), in the United States National Museum 

 collection. The specimen is not perfect but conforms precisely with 

 culicifortnis on structures of the genitalia. Additional evidence of culici- 

 formis in Alaska is furnished by larvae and pupal cases obtained in and 

 under the bark of white birch at Anchorage and at Palmer (July 1938, 

 Engelhardt). The infested trees had been abused, showing bruises and 

 healing wounds ; at Anchorage they were near a baseball field and at 

 Palmer adjacent to the administration buildings for the Matanusca agri- 

 cultural developments. The borers had concentrated on the injured 

 places of the tree trunks. None could be found on the abundant birches, 

 or on alder, growing under natural, undisturbed conditions. 



In Europe culiciforinis ranges to Lapland, Finland, and along the 

 northern borders into Siberia. There is good reason for accepting it 

 as a circumpolar species. There are no structural, and only slight color, 

 diflferences between culiciformis and americana. The forewings of culici- 

 formis have orange scales at the bases and are almost entirely golden 

 yellow beneath, and the tibiae and tarsi are prominently marked yellowish 

 brown, whereas the forewings of americana are entirely black, with 

 orange scales only at the bases beneath, and the tibiae and tarsi are only 

 slightly marked with yellowish brown. Rearing records of omcricanu are 

 all from alder ; there are none from birch. 



THAMNOSPHECIA AMERICANA (Bentenmailer) 



Aegeria culiciformis Beutenmuller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 6, p. 93, 1894. 

 Sesia culiciformis var. americana Beutenmiiller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 8, p. 136, 1896; vol. 9, p. 219, 1897. 



