144 ■ Journal New York Ent. Soc. [V'ol. ii. 



NOTE ON SPHARAGEMON SAXATILE Morse. 

 By W.M. JBeutp:NxMuller. 



This species was recently described by Mr. Albert P. Morse 

 (Proc. Best. Soc. Nat. Hist , Vol. XXVI, 1894, p. 229) from speci- 

 mens collected in various parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

 On September ist Mr. \Vm T. Davis captured several examples 

 of this insect on Bearfort Mt., Passaic Co., north of New Found- 

 land, New Jersey, which is a new locality for the species 



It is blackish fuscous in spots and bands on an ash gray ground 

 color; the abdomen is somewhat yellowish as also the face; on the 

 pronotum is an ash gray X shaped mark on the disk; the wing 

 covers are crossed by three obscure blackish bands; the hind femora 

 are ash gray sprinkled with black outside and yellowish inside, 

 with f(nn- black transverse bands, which are indistinct outside; the 

 hind tibiae are coral reil with a white ring near the base which is 

 black. The hind wings are sulphur yellow somewhat semitrans- 

 parent, with an arcuate median, black band. The apical third of 

 the wing is transparent, apex more (male) or less (female) blackish. 

 Length of body about .80 to i inch. = 20 to 25 mm. 



This species has been named saxatile by Mr. Morse for the 

 reason that it seems to find life most to its taste in unsettled, some- 

 what wooded districts of a rocky, often elevated character. Here 

 it finds a congenial home antl may be seen during the latter half of 

 the season crawling actively about over the lichened ledges, whose 

 tints harmonize with its own, or flying from one to another, stridu- 

 lating loudly as it goes. Mr. Morse says it vividly recalls the cool 

 gray of the rocks, the glory of the golden-rod, and the tints of 

 reddened stems of trailing vines. So well do the colors of its 

 body match those of its chosen haunts, — the pale greenish gray 

 and ashy of the paler rock-constituents and their lichen coverings, 

 the brown and black of other lichens and the darker elements 

 hornblend and mica or iron-stained disintegrated particles, — 

 that it is quite difficult to distinguished when at rest, and being an 

 extremely alert insect some strategy is recpiired to capture it. 



The specimens lately captured by Mr. Davis^ were taken on a 

 rocky ledge, Bearfort Mt. been a locality in every respect similarly 

 to that djscriljjd as the favorite haunts of the species. 



