4 BULLETIN 539, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of variation in the species, basing his remarks on a collection of 25 

 specimens from Colombia, South America, most of them taken in 

 September and October. 



Hulst (12) redescribed this species as new, from Texas, under 

 the name Dasypyga carbonella, a mistake which he later rectified in 

 his monograph of the Phycitidae (13), in which he places carbonella 

 as a synonym of Zeller's variety tartarella. In the same publication 

 he redescribes lignosellus, places it in the genus Elasmopalpus for the 

 first time under that name, and gives a bibliography and notes on 

 the distribution and seasonal occurrence. 



Ragonot (15) covers much the same ground as several of the 

 previous authors, giving the synonyms, bibliography, and a descrip- 

 tion of the species and calling attention to its great variability. He 

 also uses the name major, the first word of Zeller's description, for 

 the variety B mentioned above and lists it as a variety of the species 

 lignosellus. Smith (17 and 26) records the species from New York, 

 and Dyar (20) lists it with its synonyms in his catalogue of the 

 Lepidoptera of North America, giving the distribution as the Atlantic 

 States and South America. 



The junior author has gone carefully over all the descriptions 

 given by the various authors mentioned above, examining the 

 specimens in the United States National Museum, and has come to 

 the conclusion that the use of all varietal names in this species may 

 well be discontinued. The varieties that have been described are not 

 constant in any respect either as to size, geographical distribution, 

 or seasonal occurrence, and apparently they indicate merely indi- 

 vidual aberrations in color, size, or markings. The synonymy, then, 

 stands as follows: 



Pempelia lignosella Zeller (1), 

 Elasmopalpus angustellus Blanchard (2), 

 Pempelia lignosella tartarella Zeller (3), 

 Pempelia lignosella incautella Zeller (3), 

 Dasypyga carbonella Hulst (12), 

 Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) Hulst (13), 

 Elasmopalpus lignosellus incautellus (Zeller) Hulst (13), 

 Elasmopalpus lignosellus tartar ellus (Zeller) Hulst (13). 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



This species is limited in its occurrence to the Western Hemisphere. 

 It occurs practically throughout South America, having been reported 

 from widely separated localities in all parts of that continent. The 

 list as given by Hulst includes Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Argen- 

 tina (Buenos Aires), Chile, and "Patagonia." In North America 

 (fig. 1), while its range is not so great, it may be said to occur over 

 the entire southern half of the United States. It has been most 



