1903] WHEELER : — STENAMMA SENSU STRICTO 1 65 



shire and one from Virginia. Later he withdrew the description of the workers 

 and left the species to rest on the descriptions of the winged forms alone. The 

 other species (6". brevicorne Mayr) was described at length from worker and female 

 specimens taken in Virginia. 



In his revision of the North American Stenamma, Emery regarded ncarcticiim 

 as a subspecies of the European S. westivoodi^ and referred to this same form his 

 own subspecies diecki with its variety impressiivi. 



More recently Forel has again revised the species, prefacing his conckisions 

 with the following remarks : ''This subgenus (Stenamma sens, str.) presents an 

 almost inextricable tangle of alUed forms. The sculpture of the American species 

 is denser than that of S. ivestivoodi of Europe. I believe that they should be 

 separated specifically, if only for the sake of unravelling the tangle. On the 

 other hand, I doubt whether .S. diecki Emery really belongs to tiearcticum and 

 believe that it belongs rather to brevicorne. Emery gives the differential char- 

 acters between the American workers and the typical Westwoodi but not between 

 the workers of tiearcticum and brevicorne. Now the fundamental difference between 

 these two species lies in the wings, and none of the specimens described by Emery 

 as nearcticum, diecki, etc., seem to have possessed these appendages, as the author 

 makes no mention of them. It seems to me more prudent, therefore, since the 

 winged sexes are so little known, to retain the name nearcticu?n only for the female 

 and male described by Mayr, and to consider all the other American forms as 

 races or varieties of brevicorne till we have proof of the contrary." 



After examining considerable material of Stenamma from different parts of 

 the United States, from Connecticut to Washington, I am able to establish the 

 truth of Professor Forel's conjecture. Among this material a single male and 

 female collected at Corvallis, Oregon, and sent me by Mr. J. C. Bradley, are 

 without question referable to Mayr's nearcficntn. These specimens are very dark, 

 with conspicuous apterostigma, and with the same neuration as the European 

 7vestwoodi, i. e., the inner branch of the cubital vein comes off at the cross-vein. 

 The males and females of all the other North American forms in my possession 

 (including diecki Emery !) have the inner branch of the cubital vein arisingy>7^;« 

 the middle of the cubital cell., and therefore undoubtedly belong to brevicorne Mayr, 

 as Forel has conjectured. Emery was evidently puzzled by the sculpture of the 

 postpetiole. This is rough and opaque in brevicorne s. str., but smooth and 

 shining in some of the subspecies, like diecki. As he had no winged specimens of 

 this subspecies he was thus led to assign it to westivoodi. 



The synonymy of the two species, as I understand it, should therefore stand as 

 follows : 



