264 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 207 



heavily rugose near junction with bursa, nearly as long 

 as biu'sa. 



Type locality: Taboga Isl., Panamd. (Feb.; type in 

 USNM). 



Food plant: Unknown. 



Represented only by the original type series. EasUy 

 distinguished from anything else in the family by its 

 unique male and female genitalia. 



154. Lascelina, new genus 



Type of genus: Lascelina canens, new species. 



Tongue well developed. Antenna pubescent; shaft 

 of male with sinus and strong scale tuft at base; of fe- 

 male simple. Labial palpus upturned, reaching vertex 

 in male, well above vertex in female; slender; rough 

 scaled; third segment slightly shorter than second, 

 bluntly pointed. Maxillary palpus minute, fihform. 

 Forewing smooth; 11 veins; vein 2 from before, but near, 

 lower outer angle of cell; 3 from the angle; 4-5 shortly 

 stalked, the stalk separate from 3 at base; 6 from below 

 upper angle of cell, straight; 8-9 stalked; 10 from the 

 cell, approximate to stalk of 8-9 for some distance from 

 cell; male without costal fold. Hind wing with vein 2 

 from very close to lower outer angle of cell; 3 and 5 

 stalked for half their lengths ; 7 and 8 anastomosed for 

 half their lengths; cell shghtly less than half the wing 

 length; discoceUular vein curved. Eighth abdominal 

 segment with sternite produced as a sclerotized pocket 

 projecting into abdomen. 



Male genitalia with gnathos and its apical process 

 greatly reduced, latter fused with subanal plate. Uncus 

 triangulate. TranstDla absent (elements not distin- 

 guishable). Harpe broad, evenly curved; clasper pres- 

 ent as a short erect lobe; a pair of strong, detached hair 

 tufts adjacent to bases of saccuh. Anellus a triangu- 

 late, shghtly curved plate. Aedeagus short, stout; 

 penis armed with minute spines and fine scobinations. 

 Vinculum long (longer than combined tegumen and 

 imcus) ; U-shaped; shghtly tapering to rounded terminal 

 margin. 



Female genitalia with bursa copula trix elongate; 

 signum present, consisting of a single long stout curved 

 spine; ductus bursae very short, sclerotized near junc- 

 tion with bursa, the sclerotizations extending into the 

 neck of biu-sa; genital opening simple. 



A distinct genus of imcertain affinities, easUy distin- 

 guished by its male and female genitalia. Represented 

 only by its type species. 



546. Lascelina canens, new species 



Figures 562, 1055 



Forewing grayish white (the ground color that of 

 wood ashes); antemedial and subterminal lines faint, 

 indicated chiefly by the dark markings bordering them; 

 antemedial line bordered inwardly by a thin broken 

 blackish line and terminating at costa in a small reddish 

 brown patch; a similar, smaller, reddish brown patch on 

 midcosta; subterminal line bordered on both sides 



towards costa by blackish fuscous ; discal spots at end of 

 cell, small, distinct, blackish; along termen a confluent 

 row of blackish dots. Some reddish brown and blackish 

 scaling on the labial palpi and a strong admixture of 

 blackish scales in the antennal tuft of the male. Hind 

 wing smoky white, with a dark line along termen. Alar 

 expanse, 11-16 nun. 



Male genitalia with uncus very narrowly rounded at 

 apex; costa of harpe broadly sclerotized; terminal mar- 

 gin obUque, straight; aneUus with lateral margins 

 shghtly produced; aedeagus bulged before apex. Fe- 

 male genitalia as given for the genus. 



Type locality: Brownsville, Tex. (type in USNM, 

 61380; paratypes in BM, Paris Mus., and Cornell, 

 Canadian National, and Janse Collections) . 



Food plant: Maytenus phyllanthoides. 



Described from male type and 24 male and 17 female 

 paratypes from the type locality (40 of these reared 

 Apr. 29, Aug. 4, and Dec. 7, 1938, and June 16, 1943, by 

 members of the Foreign Plant Quarantine Division of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture at Brownsville, Tex., 

 from larvae feeding on the leaves oiMaytenus) ; 1 male and 

 41 female paratypes from San Benito, Tex. (Mar., Apr., 

 May, Aug., Sept.); 1 female paratype from Redington, 

 Ariz., and 1 female paratype from Prescott, Ariz. (July). 

 In addition to the foregoing I have also seen a male from 

 Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, intercepted in quarantine 

 at Nogales, Ariz. (Feb. 27, 1941). 



Genus 155: Metephestia 



[Venational division D. Forewing with 10 veins; 4 absent; 10 

 from the cell; hind wing with 3-5 approximate at base; discocel- 

 lular vein straight, vertical. Male genitalia with uncus bifur- 

 cate.] 



155. Genus Metephestia Ragonot 



Metephestia Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 2, p. viii, 1901. — Hamp- 

 son, in Ragonot, Monograph, pt. 2, p. 87, 1901. (Type of 

 genus: Ephestia simplicula Zeller.) 



Tongue well developed. Antenna very shortly pu- 

 bescent ; shaft of male with a shallow sinus and small scale 

 tuft at base; shaft of female simple. Labial palpus up- 

 tiu^ed, slender, reaching to vertex; third segment acu- 

 minate, about half as long as second. Maxillary palpus 

 filiform. Forewing smooth ; 10 veins ; vein 2 from before 

 but near lower outer angle of ceU; 3 from the angle; 4 

 absent (imited with 5); 5 separated shghtly from 3 at 

 base; 6 from below upper angle of cell, very slightly 

 cm-ved (nearly straight); 8 and 9 stalked; 10 from the 

 cell, separate from the stalk of 8-9 ; male without costal 

 fold. Hind wing with vein 2 from well before lower 

 outer angle of cell; 3 and 5 from the angle, approximate 

 at base; 7 and 8 anastomosed for less than half their 

 lengths beyond cell ; ceU very short, about one-fifth the 

 length of wing; discoceUular vein straight, vertical. 

 Abdomen of male with a strong pair of ventrolateral hair 

 tufts. 



Male genitalia with apical projection of gnathos pro- 

 duced into a long, slender hook with notched apex. 



