BOTIS TORALIS GROTE. 



By Harrison G. Dyar, 

 Washington, D. C. 



This species was described by Grote in 1881, from material col- 

 lected by Prof. F. H. Snow in New Mexico. The type was returned to 

 Professor Snow, and the species h^s remained unknown to entomolo- 

 gists generally ever since. In Grote's check list of 1882 it is listed 

 under Botis Schrank (p. 52, no. 48); in Smith's list of 1891, it is 

 placed in Pyraitsta (p. 76, no 4035); Hampson lists-it as unknown, 

 under the caption " Auctorum " as Botys toralis, and refers to Bull. 

 U. S. Geol. Surv., vi, pp. 167, 178, giving the locality " U. S. A." 

 (Proc. zool. soc. Lond., 1899, 273) ; in Bull. 52, U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 it is listed as Pyraitsta torahs, and there were then no specimens in the 

 National Museum (p. 392, no. 4449). 



I have recently received the type specimen from Professor Snow, 

 who kindly sent it for examination at my request. It bears three labels : 

 (i) Socorro, N. M., 4,000 ft., Aug. '81, F. H. Snow; (2) Type 

 specimen, species discovered by F. H. Snow; (3) 872. The head 

 and abdomen have been eaten partially by museum pests, so that the 

 antennae are missing as well as the palpi ; portions of two legs remain, 

 including one fore leg. The whole specimen is darkened by grease. 

 I have also received from Professor Snow, two other fresh specimens 

 of the species, taken at San Bernardino Ranch, Cochise Co., Arizona, 

 3,750 ft., in August. The pink color is more restricted in these than 

 in the type, not consisting of an even border along the outer margin, 

 but of a straight band that leaves a narrow yellow space between itself 

 and the pink tipped fringe. I do not think this is a specific difference, 

 the pink, in the New Mexican form being only diffused over this yel- 

 low space. The ground color of the fore wings is clear yellow, not 

 olive yellow as described by Grote, and the hind wings are nearly 

 white, not "pale fuscous." The differences in color seem to be 

 wholly due to the effect of the grease on the type, and this greasy 

 condition must have obtained originally when the specimen was first 

 described. 



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