188 BULLETIN 190. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



MELITTIA GLORIOSA Hy. Edwards 



Plate 31, Figures 178, 179 



Melittia gloriosa Hy. Edwards, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, vol. 3, p. 71, 1880. — Riley, 

 Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 1, p. 85, 1888. — Beutenmuller, Bull. Amer. 

 Mus. Nat Hist., vol. 4, p. 171, 1892; vol. 8, p. 114, 1896; vol. 9, p. 217, 1897; 

 vol. 12, p. 150, 1899 ; Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist, vol. 1, pt 6, p. 235, pi. 29, 

 fig. 3 (female), 1901.— F. X. Williams, Kansas Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 8 (1913), 

 p. 217, 1914. — McDuNNOUGH, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the 

 United States of America, pt 2, No. 8779, 1939. 



Male. — Antennae bipectinate, dark olive-green, rufous beneath and at 

 apices. Labial palpus white, above and on its inner and outer sides pale 

 dull yellov^. Head greenish brown on the top ; face white ; occipital 

 fringe pale yellow, white at the sides. Collar dark brown with bluish 

 reflections. Thorax dark green-brown, a broad yellow patch laterally 

 from collar to wing base ; tegula with a posterior yellow tuft ; metathorax 

 transversely broadly edged with yellow and orange; underside lustrous 

 blue-black. Abdomen with segments 1, 2, and 3 dark greenish brown 

 on top, orange and red at the sides ; segment 3 yellow, red at the sides 

 and touched with black on posterior edge ; segment 5 yellow ; segments 

 6 and 7 and anal tuft lustrous pale blue ; all segments with a posterior 

 margin of appressed metallic black scales; beneath, the abdomen creamy 

 white. Fore and middle legs with femora and tibiae pale yellow and 

 white, tarsi blue-black, yellow at the joints ; hindlegs with long orange- 

 red hair on the inner side extending to second joint of tarsi ; anterior 

 half of tibia red above, yellow on outer side, posterior half of tibia and 

 the tarsus velvety black on upper side, blotched with yellow on outer edge 

 and beneath ; apical joints of tarsus all black. 



Forewing opaque, yellowish green, tinted with olivaceous on costa, 

 inner margin, and basal parts ; fringes broad, greenish brown, tipped with 

 buff ; underside orange-yellow. Hindwing transparent ; veins, narrow 

 margin and wing base orange-red above and beneath ; fringes dark brown- 

 black, not tipped with buff. 



Female. — Antennae simple ; body more robust, abdomen cylindrical. 

 Forewing and thorax orange-green ; underside orange. Hindwing opaque, 

 orange-red ; fringes brown-black ; underside orange-red. 



Expanse: Male 40 to 45 mm., female 40 to 50 mm. 



Distribution. — Oregon and California and coastal islands of these 

 States; Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, western Texas. 



Type. — Female. In the American Museum of Natural History. 



MELITTIA GLORIOSA race LINDSEYI Barnes and Benjamin 



Melittia lindseyi Barnes and Benjamin, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 27, p. 14, 

 1925. — McDuNNOUGH, Check list of the Lepidoptera of Canada and the United 

 State of America, pt. 2, No. 8781, 1939. 



Melittia superba Barnes and Lindsey (not Rothschild), Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, 

 vol. 17, p. 122, 1922. 



