122 



insriTED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 207 



peciiliar development of the clasper on harpe of the 

 male genitalia and the strong sclerotization about the 

 genital opening of the female. Hampson's Emmerita 

 has not a single character to separate it from Meroptera. 

 The stalking of vein 10 of forewing with 8-9, upon 

 which Hampson evidently relied, is shared by the types 

 of both Meroptera and Nephopteryx. This stalking is 

 very short at most and is not even specifically constant 

 in either genus. 



The genus as here defined contains but four North 

 American species, and (to the best of my knowledge) 

 no Old World representatives. 



246. Meroptera mirandella Ragonot 

 Figures 21, 333, 816 



Meroptera mirandella Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 1, p. 313, 1893. 

 Emmerita mirandella (Ragonot) Hampson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 



ser. 10, vol. 5, p. 76, 1930.— McDunnough, Check list, 



No. 6181, 1939. 



Forewing ocherous white with a very faint and 

 scattered dusting of blackish scales in median area; 

 antemedial line narrow, oblique, indented at lower fold, 

 bordered outwardly by a black hne which begins as an 

 enlarged, more or less triangular dash on costa, in- 

 wardly by a straight black line from top of ceU to inner 

 margin; sub terminal line obscure, dentate-sinuate, 

 margined inwardly and outwardly for a short distance 

 from costa by black lines, on well marked specimens the 

 inner line continued as a fine dark border to tornus; 

 also on well marked examples a faint blackish or 

 fuscous shade extending obliquely across the wing from 

 the inner costal edge of the antemedial line; discal dots 

 faint, but usually distinguishable, blackish, separated, 

 obliquely placed; terminal black dots more or less con- 

 fluent. Hind wing white with a faint creamy or smoky 

 tint; a very faint brownish line along termen; veins not 

 or very sHghtly darkened. Alar expanse, 23-26 mm. 



Male genitalia with broad, irregularly fan-shaped 

 clasper. Female genitalia with sclerotization of genital 

 opening a narrow, corrugate, sclerotized band with 

 short lateral, inward projections; bursa with two 

 opposed, lateral, granulate patches. 



Type locality: Colorado (type in Paris Mus.). 



Food plant: Popidus (this record from an Arizona 

 specimen in the National Collections reared from a 

 cocoon on a cottonwood leaf) . 



Distkibution: Colorado, Denver; Arizona, Douglas 

 (Aug.), Nogales (July), Phoenix (Apr.), Pinal Mts. 

 (May), Keadington, Tucson (Apr.), Ymna (June). 



One of the females before me from Phoenix is de- 

 cidedly abnormal in venation, the forewing having 

 vein 10 from the cell and closely approximate to the 

 stalk of 8-9, 6 bent at base and from very near the upper 

 angle of the cell and 4 and 5 closely approximate at base 

 and for some little distance from the cell. Its genitalia 

 are normal and it is clearly an individual aberration, 

 but an example of what occurs all too often in the 

 Phycitidae and which should caution us to use generic 

 keys with discretion and to place unusual specimens 

 only after examination of their genitalia. 



247. Meroptera cviatella Dyar 

 Figure 817 



Meroptera cviatella Dyar, Proc. Ent. Soo. Washington, vol. 7, p. 34, 



1905.— McDunnough, Check list. No. 6182, 1939. 

 Salehria cviatella (Dyar) Forbes, Cornell Mem. 68, p. 627, 1923. 



Forewing bright reddish brown with a more or less 

 distinct, transverse purplish gray shading in outer area 

 and bordering outwardly the sub terminal line; this 

 latter area sometimes dusted with blackish scales; the 

 central area near antemedial line more or less dusted 

 with whitish scales; antemedial line oblique, narrow, 

 strongly indented at lower fold, its upper half obscured; 

 the white line bordered outwardly by a conspicuous 

 black band, broad on costa and very gradually narrow- 

 ing towards inner margin; inwai'dly bordered on lower 

 half by a similar broad, vertical black band; sub terminal 

 line diffused, whitish; discal dots confluent, black, the 

 lower one sometimes obscm-ed; a row of more or less 

 confluent black dots along termen. Hind wing pale 

 smoky brown, darkened slightly towards termen. Alar 

 expanse, 23-25 mm. 



Male genitalia similar to those of mirandella. Fe- 

 male genitaUa with sclerotization of genital opening a 

 narrow, dark, granulate band, broken and with two 

 short, divergent extensions at middle, these extensions 

 fusing into a small, thin, triangulate, sclerotized patch 

 on the lower median surface of the ductus bursae. 



Type locality: Chicago, lU. (type in USNM). 



Food plant: Pojmlus (cottonwood). Larva a borer 

 in buds and new shoots. 



Disteibution: Illinois, Chicago (June, July), Lacon 

 (Aug.), Putnam County (July, Aug.); Mississippi, 

 Starkville (July). 



The above food-plant record is from Putnam Coimty 

 specimens reared by Mr. Murry O. Glenn. One of 

 his series is labeled "bred from larva on Amorpha 

 canescen,s." I doubt if Amorpha is a true food plant or 

 the presence of the larva on this plant anything more 

 than an accidental last-stage migration from cotton- 

 wood. 



248. Meroptera pravella (Grote) 

 Figures 22, 334, 812 



Pempelia pravella Grote, Bull. U. S. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Terr., 

 vol. 4, No. 3, p. 694, 1878. 



Meroptera pravella (Grote), Canadian Ent., vol. 14, p. 30, 1882. — 

 Packard, U. S. Dep. Agr. Div. Ent. Bull. 13, p. 23, 1887; 

 U. S. Dep. Agr. Fifth Rep., Ent. Comm., p. 574, 1890.— 

 Ragonot (in part). Monograph, pt. 1, p. 314, 1893. — Mc- 

 Dunnough, Check list, No. 6184, 1939. 



Forewing dark gray; the basal area, except for a 

 narrow dark gray shading at extreme base, pale ashy 

 gray and contrastingly paler; antemedial Hne obscure 

 and often partially obliterated, when distinguishable 

 it is oblique, narrow, duU white, distinguished chiefly 

 by its black borders, which tend to coalesce into a 

 broad, diffused, blackish band; subterminal line faint 

 but distinguishable, grayish white, sinuate, in fresh 

 specimens bordered inwardly by an obscure, narrow, 

 blackish line; discal dots separated, blackish, not con- 

 spicuous; a faint blackish line along termen. Hind 



