164 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Pompiliis family or subfamily, in which the abdomen is 

 almost sessile. 



GENERA OF THE SPHEX FAMILY. 



**Two submarginal cells. (Legs smooth.) 



1. Each submarginal cell receiviuga recurrent vein RhinopsiB. 



2. Second submarginal cell receivingboth recurrent veins. .Coloptera 

 ♦♦Three submarginal cells. 



A. Second submarginal cell receiving both recurrent veins. 

 a. Legs smooth. 



1. Labruni hid by the cl.ypeu8 Podium. 



'2. Labrum distinctly visible PelopoeuB, 



h. Legs thomed and bristly. 



1. Third submarginal cell 4-sided and sessile Ammophila. 



2. Third submarginal cell triangular and peduncled [Miseus-T 



B. Second submarginal cell receiving only tbe liist recurrent vein. 



<7. Legs smooth CDoliehurus.] 



h. Legs thomed and bristly . 



1. Tarsal claws one-toothed. (Face short.) CMorion. 



2. " " two-toothed tiphex. 



3. " " tlirec-toothed [Parasphex.j 



4. " " lour-loothed Priouonyx. 



C. Second submarginal cell receiving neither of the two recur- 



rent veins [A mpulex. 



It is remarkable that no loss than three perlei-tly dis- 

 tinct N. A. Blue Wasps, belonging to three ditterent 

 modern genera, have all of them been described by old 

 authors under one and the same name— ^lyj/fir.j; emralea. 

 They may be enumerated as follows: 1st. One by 

 Liniiajus {System. A'atur., Vol. I, page HIT, No. 38), 

 which is now considered to be a Pepsis '{/'ominlus 

 family) found in Mexico and thi> AVest Iiidii-s. liiid. 

 Another by Linnaeus {ihid, page (141, No. -i) and subse- 

 quently by DeGeer, which is now kiiow-n us I'do-jjcevx 

 rairulevs {Spjux family), and has tlif same habits as 

 Pel. lanatux Fabr. This species occurs s])arin.gly in 

 North Illinois, and I found a few of its ininl-cl-lls, 

 with the dead wasps still in tbem, promiscuoiislv inter- 

 mixed among those of the other species obtained near 

 the Black Hawk AVatch-tower. (Sec above, p. i:^;i). 

 [n Pennsylviuiia and othiu- Eastern States, ticcoi'ding to 

 Mr. Cresson, it is quite common. Mrd, Another by 

 Urury, which is the Clilorinn {.Sp/ie.r ftimily), tigiired oil 

 liage 126 (Fig. H7.) It is to this last species'that the 

 .'^'p/ie.r. carutea. of St. Fargeau {Ifjinwii . Ill, p. 38()) must 

 be referred, who, however, seems to have made a 

 strange confusion between his Pelopceus mnileu,^ {ihid, 

 p. 320) and his Sphex ccenilea, quoting the stime old 

 authors, Linnasus tmd DeGeer, for both species. In 

 reality, many species of insects are described by old 

 authors in so brief and loose a manner, that to decide 

 what particular insect they refci- to is often a mere sci- 

 entific conundrum, the answer to which is all guess- 

 work, unless the typical specimens happen to have 

 been preserved in some museum. 



GENUS CHLORION. 



Chlorion cceruleum Drury (Fig. 97.)— This spe- 

 cies has never hitherto been recorded as found any 

 further north than Colorado, Texas and certain Southerii 

 States; but I know it to be very common near Eock 

 Island, in North Illinois, and probably in other parts 

 of the North-ATestern States, I am not absolutely 

 certain that the "Blue ,AV asp as large as a Hornet,'"' 

 the habits of which are d(?scribed' Tiy Mr. Georgt? 

 \y. Smith of Michigan in the text of this article (p. 127), 

 is the true Chlm-ion cmnilmm- of Drury; but I infer 

 that it is, because there are but two Blue Wasjis found 

 in the North-Westeni States that answer to Mr. Smith's 

 description, namely, Chlorion ecenileumimd Pelopovis ca- 

 /■iileiix; :ind the latter of these two is a inud-dauhcr, and 

 consequently does not make its nest in the ground, as the 

 Michigan Blue Wasp did. The Blue AVasp, however, 

 referred to by Catcsby in his J/i.9/oiy of Carolina, is the 

 Pelopceus and not, as from the language used by A7est- 

 wood was cn-oneously inferred in the text (page 12(1) , 

 the Chlorion. Mr. Cre.sson has obligingly copied out lor 

 me the passage in Catesby bearing upon this subject; and 

 Ifind that that writer expressly says that his Blue AVasp 

 was a mud-dauber, and that one of them dragged a 

 spider, subsequently ascertained to be eight times as 

 heavy as itself, up a perpendicular wall to its mud- 

 cell. (Vol. II, p. 105.) 



I have to return my thanks to Mr. Cresson for his 

 valuable assistance in clisentangliug the intricate synon- 

 ymy of these Blue Wasps, and also in jirepariiig the 

 Table of Genera of the Sphex family given above. It 

 is but little to the credit of the great and wealthy North- 

 west, that not a single PubUc Library, e\en "decently 

 supplied with books on Natural History, is to be found 



within its limits. So that AVestcrn naturalists are con- 

 tinually conqielled to go begging for bibliographical 

 assistance to the doors of their friends in the East, who 

 — more fortunate than themsehes — have free access to 

 good scientific libraries. 



GENUS AMMOPHILA. 



Ammoi'HILA I'lCTii'ENMS n. sp. $. (Fig, loo, p. 

 128).— Black. IL-ad subopaiiue, with a few short black 

 hairs above and some long lilack ones below, finely ru- 

 gose and in front almost aciculate, the aciculatioris di- 

 rected towards the eye and slightly downwards. Cly- 

 peus subiiojishcd, a little rounded. i'ugo.se, with .sparse 

 large impii'sscd jiuin-tiirrs and a few long black hairs, p- 

 Antenna; about reacbiiig to tbe origin" of the front 

 wings. r//f,;-,(,. pei-frctly oiiaqiie. tinely rugose, with a 

 few short lilark bairs rs]>eci:illy lielnw. Tegiila> and 

 prostcnial lulirn-les glabrous and iiolisbrd. The en- 

 closed Sparc on the nictathorax willi line transverse 

 striie . dii-Ofted on each side a little l>ack\Nards. Ahdnmea 

 sujiciiiaqiie. M'l-y tinely rugose, glalirous. Peduncle 

 suiiriinrly l-oi'd loiigei'than juiiitl. shining black; the 

 extriMiie till of the iieduncle below, the whole of joints 

 1 and 2 and mnrcor less of l be basal part of joint, 3, more 

 narrowly abovi' more widely below, all sanguineous. 

 Zer/s iunnaculate: fruiit legs polislii'd; the 4 hind l(>gs 

 opaque with a whitish bloinn. Front iri/ii/s ferrugin- 

 ous on their liasal 2-;!rd-i; bind wings byaiine ou their 

 bastU 2-3rds, Imt generally tinged willi ferriiginoiis near 

 their base; the trrmiiial l-:';i'd iif all the Ibtir wings dusky. 

 Veins colored to corresiiond with the wing. — Length § 

 (l.(io— O.SII inch; expan.^c § l),S.'i—l (III inch. 



Tbe (j" dirters from the ^ only as follows :— 1st, The 

 entire head is finely rugose and covered with long black 

 hairs. 2nd, The iiairs on tbi' tliorax arc iiuicli denser 

 and longer. .3rd, In the abdomen tbe entire peduncle 

 is black; joint 1 is jiiccoiis, and only jnint 2 sanguin- 

 eous, 4tii, Tile liiur bind legs are but slightly opatpie, 

 ,5th. It is only the basal l-.'ird of the front wing that is 

 ferruginous, that of the hind wing scarcely so, tbe 

 middle l-3rd in both wings being subiiyaline aiid the ter- 

 minal l-3rd dusky. — Length j" O.fio'inch; expanse (f 

 O.OOinch. 



One c5", eight g. Five $ were taken in South Illi- 

 nois, oni' of them under the circHinistances nai-rated in 

 the text. Three alcoholic $, taken by Dr. \'elii> in 

 Colorado, do not ditt'er frnni the olliers exci'iit in the 

 3rd abdominal joint lieiiig rather nime widely sanguin- 

 eous. Mr. Cresson, to whom I lia\e foi-wiirdcii a $ 

 specimen, intornis me that it is nowhere deserilied in 

 print that be can find, and that be had bunsclf reengnized 

 it as a new sjiecies from siieciinens already in the eol- 

 lecti'iii of tlic Society, none of whicii, howcNcr. were 

 received from Colorado. In ihc coloring of its wings 

 A. p!dii.,„,ii.f agrees Willi A. /era (Europe); lint that 

 species lias no transverse striatitni on the niatathorax. 



What the N. Y. Farmers' Club thinks of Best's 

 Invigorator. 



An AdRicuLTURAL HuMBUG — Siflucy Keith 

 writes to Horace Greeley, asking' what he thinks 

 about " Best's Tree luvigorator." Mr. Greeley 

 refers the letter to the Club, and we advi.se Sid- 

 ney Keith and all others to have nothing wliat- 

 ever to do with tlie " Tree Invigorator," or any 

 other patent manure, or lotion, or swab, or 

 drench. Yon may as well buy pills to cause 

 cows to give cream, or stuff in a vial to fatten 

 hogs, or a patent lieu persuader to get eggs 

 without roosters or grain, — Proceeding.i of the 

 N. Y. Farmers' Club, Feb. 23, 18C9, 



Ekratum in No. 7, — Page 180, under the 

 "figure, for "Black and dull yt^llow '" read 

 " Black and bright yellow."' 



