CLEAR-WING MOTHS OF FAMILY AEGERIIDAE 125 



small, transparent quadrangle before the discal mark and a long, narrow 

 clear space between the veins near the wing base ; underside shaded with 

 yellow scales. Hindwing transparent, narrowly edged with dull black 

 above and beneath. 



Female. — Same as the male except anal tuft narrow, blunt; antennae 

 simple. 



Expanse : Male 20 to 23 mm., female 22 to 24 mm. 



Distribution. — Alabama, coastal regions. 



Type. — U.S.N.M. No. 56842, male. Also female allotype and 5 male 

 and 3 female paratypes in the United States National Museum. From 

 Chickasaw, Ala. 



Remarks. — External structures and genitalia associate this species most 

 closely with T. americatta. Its food plant and earlv stages are not known. 

 I have a series of 10 specimens, 7 males and 3 females, all collected by 

 Thomas S. Van Aller at Chickasaw and other localities in the vicinity of 

 Mobile. Ala., late in August. September, and October 1931-1932. The 

 habitat is open woodlands bordering on swamps. The moths are at- 

 tracted to flowers such as Eupatoriuni and other late-blooming composites, 

 but none of these is the food plant of the larva. No clue to the early 

 stages of the insect could be found. 



My good friend Thomas S. Van Aller has been of great assistance on 

 field investigations in regions near his home at Mobile, Ala. His contri- 

 butions to the United States National Museum collection have been large 

 and important. It is a pleasure to name the present species for him. 



THAMNOSPHECIA SIGMOIDEA (Bentenmuller) 



Plate 8, Figures 43, 43a ; Plate 14, Figure 7Z 



Aegeria asiliformis Hy. Edwards (not Rottemburg), Papilio, vol. 2, p. 56, 1882. 

 Sesia stgmoidea Beutenmuller, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 9, pp. 214, 220, 



1897; Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 6, p. 303, pi. 31, fig. 20, 1901. 

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



United States of America, pt. 2, No. 8740, 1939. 



Male. — Antennae black, dilated to tips, pectinations short and fine. 

 Labial palpi yellow, scales appressed. Head black. Collar yellow. 

 Thorax black, with a narrow, yellow mark at each side, continuing and 

 broadening beneath ; posterior edge above yellow. Forewing transparent, 

 costa and veins black, intermixed slightly with orange; discal mark 

 orange, edged with black on inner side ; outer margins broad ; underside 

 shaded heavily with yellow to wing base and light orange on outer 

 margins. Hindwing with narrow margins and fringes black above and 

 beneath. Tibia lustrous black, spurs and a band at anterior spurs yellow ; 

 first tarsal joint yellow. Abdomen steel or cupreous black, segments 2, 

 4, 6, and 7 narrowly banded with yellow, the band on fourth segment 

 broader beneath than above ; anal tuft broadly wedge-shaped, edged with 

 yellow to tip. 



