PSYCHE. 



REVISION OF THE SPECIES OF SPHARAGEMON. 



B'i' ALBERT P. MORSE. WELLESLEV, MASS. 



.Since the pulilication of my paper on 

 the New England species of this genus 

 (Proc. Boston soc. nat. hist., xxvi, 

 22C1-240) I have had an opportunit}' to 

 study all the material in this genus in 

 the collections of Mr. Scudder and the 

 National Museum. In adrlition, I have 

 received several forms which would 

 otherwise not have been seen, together 

 with numerous notes on the distribution 

 of the species, from Prof. Lawrence 

 Bruner. I desire to express here my 

 thanks to Mr. Scudder, Prof. Bruner, 

 and Dr. Rile\' for the oblig:itions under 

 which they have thus placed me. 

 While I have been unable, owing to 

 lack of sufficient material, to reach as 

 definite conclusions as I had in some 

 cases hoped, it seems best to publish 

 the results of this inspection of a con- 

 siderable number of specimens from all 

 parts of the country. 



All of the material examined is from 

 localities east of the .Sierra Nevada 

 Mts., yet it is not unlikely that the 

 genus may occur on the Pacific coast. 

 A single specimen of one species from 

 Mexico, and several of another from 

 Aspinwall (if the labeling is correct, 

 which is open to some doubt in the 

 hitter case), indicate a considerable 

 southward extension of the genus. 



While some species are restricted to a 

 limited portion of the territory men- 

 tioned, as nearly as may lie judged, 

 others occur over its entire area. 



The more important papers tieating 

 of the members of this genus are those 

 of .Scmlder (Proc. Boston soc. nat. hist., 

 xvii, 467-471); Morse {ibid.^ xxvi, 

 220-240) ; .Saussure (Prodromus Oetli- 

 podiorum, 134-140) ; and the original 

 descriptions of .Say, Thomas, and 

 Scudder, references to which will be 

 found in the proper places elsewhere in 

 this paper. In the bil:>liography and 

 synonymy references are given onlv to 

 the more important items. 



I regret to say that several changes 

 have been found necessarv in the 

 nomenclature of the species. At the 

 time of preparing my previous puper 

 it seemed best to accept the determi- 

 nations of Scudder, at least until 

 the western forms could be more 

 thoroughly examined. This I have 

 now done, as far as material permitted, 

 and while some points remain unsettled 

 a considerable advance has been made 

 — there is strong reason for believing 

 that the names as used here have been 

 accuratelv applied and now rest upon 

 a permanent basis. Discrimination of 

 the species has proved a stumbling- 



