376 AEGERIA. By M. Bartel. 



than 21 species, of •which liowever 3 are only aberrations. He unites all the species {apiformis CI., tabani- 

 forniis Bott., spheciformis Gerning, hylaeiformis Lasp., etc.) as Sesia. Fabrictcs in 1804 was the first to erect 

 a new genus, Aegeria. in which he places ajnformis CI. as the first species, the name of the genus, moreover, 

 being taken from the food-plant of this well-known moth. Therefore, the type of Aegeria F. is apifortnis, and 

 the family must accordingly be named Aegeriidae from this oldest genus. In 1815 Oken employs the name 

 of Trochilium M'ith apiformis as type, that generic name therefore, is a synonym of Aegeria. In Hijbnek's 

 Verzeiclmiss 1822 the following genera are erected: 1. Sphecia Hbn. (tj^pe: crabroniformis Leirin), which we 

 keep here separate in spite of its close relationship with Aegeria; 2. Paranthrene Hbn. (type: asiliformis Rott. 

 V. rhingiaeformis Hb7i.). oi which Sciapteron Stgr. (t. Sciopternm) 1854 is a synonym; 3. Benibecia Hb)i . {type : 

 hylaeiformis Lasp.), which has always been correctly employed; 4. Synanthedon Hbn. (type: vespiformis L.); 

 5. Conopia Hbn. (type: stomoxyformis Hbn.), of which Thamnosphecia Spider is a synonym. The latter 

 two genera are here united mider the former name in order to avoid separating the natural group of tree- 

 and slu'ub-feeding species. In his dissertation de Sesiis agri Bei'olincnsis 1854 Staudixger created the generic 

 name Sciapteron, which however falls to Paranthrene, whereas now a new name, Microsphecia, must be pro- 

 posed for thieiformis Esp., myrmosaeformis H.-Schdff., and hoplisiformis Mann, which have hitherto been placed 

 in Paranthrene. Staudixger's "Bcitrag" in the Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1856 is a most excellent work for that time, 

 in which all the then known Palearctic species are dealt with and their synon^oiis fixed.. The nomenclature 

 of the genera is the same which he employed in his Catalogues of 1871 (ed. II) and 1901 (ed. III). Staudixger 

 has also later on published more new sjiecies of this family than any other author, and it is much to be regretted 

 that he has not again given a sun^ey of the group. Spuler, in his Schmetterlinge Europas 1910, separated 

 as Thamnosphecia the tree- and bush-feeding species of the genus "Sesia" as employed by Staitdixger, which 

 name, liowever, sinks as a spionjnn of Synanthedon Hbn. The species living in the roots of herbage have been 

 separated by Spuueb, to whom we are also indebted for a very careful examination of the veination of the 

 Aegeriidae, uito 2 groups: Chamaesphecia Spul. with distinct proboscis, and Dipsosphecia Spul. with aborted 

 proboscis. We have adopted both genera, and also Weismanjiia Spul. (type: agdistiformis Stgr.), which 

 has many peculiarities and is especially interesting as being a night-insect. It Avill at a future date also be 

 found necessarj' further to divide the genus Chamaesphecia, but this cannot very well be done before a know- 

 ledge of the habits of the larvae, which are quite unknown of many species, renders the natural grouping more 

 evident. 



1. Gemis: Aegeria F. (1804). 



Anteima half the length of the costal marghi or shorter, with an apical brush of hair, incrassate before 

 the tip, in o beneath Avith strong lamelliform teeth. Palpi strong, upturned, extending above the head, with 

 short, well-marked end-segment. Proboscis reduced, filiform in melanocephah; twice the length of the head. 

 Mid and hind tibiae with furry hair, longer in $, shorter in $. "Wings vitreous, \nih scaled margins. In the 

 forewing veins 7 and 8 on a long stalk (which is short in pimplaeformis); 3 and 4 of hindwing from lower 

 cell-angle, separate or on a short stalk ; cross-vein of hmdwing oblique. Body clumsy, abdomen only in q with a 

 short anal tuft. — Eggs elongate-globular. Larvae cylindrical with flat head; they hibernate t-\wce and 

 live in the stems of Populus and Salix; pupation in the bark or in the ground close to the tree-trunk, pupa 

 long. — In Europe only 2 species, one in Asia Minor, another in Central Asia. Type: Ae. apiformis CI. 



apiformis. Ae. apiforiTiis CI. (51 a). Body black, abdomen rmged with yellow. Antennae black above, brown 



beneath. Eyes above edged with white, with yellow towards underside. Occiput with yellow hair. Palpi 

 yellow, brownish at the apex. Collar black; anterior half of the patagia yellow. Breast black-blue, anterior 

 coxa brown-black; femora yellow, black on inside, tibiae and tarsi dirty brown, rust -brown inside. Wings 

 bordered with bro-\\n, most broadly so the outer third of the costal margin of the forewing. The latter with 

 black base, a yellow subbasal costal spot, and the cross-vein rather broadly scaled with brown. Before the 

 moth has been flying the wings, particularly the forewing, is covered with rust-brown scaling which easily 

 falls off. G>niandromorphic specimens have several times been obtained. Distributed with the food-plants 

 throughout Europe (with the exception of the higher North), Central Ural, Uralsk, Northern Caucasus, Armenia, 

 North- Western Asia Minor, Turkestan to the Altai, and also found in North America, where it has been intro- 

 sireei/ormis. duced with the food-plant. — The following aberrations are known: ab. sireciformis Esp.. darkened to rust- 

 brown, only with yello\\- hair on the head, yellow spots on the patagia and yellow underside of the tip of ab- 

 domen; the black incision with a more or less yellow tone: local, onl}^ in Southern Germany, Grisons. Austria, 



lenebrinni- Hungary, Transsylvania and island of Zealand, ab. tenebrioniformis Esp. (50 m) is the rare form with black 

 fornns. abdomen (bearing sometimes a few yellow scales in place of the yjllow belts), velvety black legs, dark head 



