BEUTENMULLER, MONOGRAPH OF THE SESIID^E. 263 



Palpi slightly upturned, hairy, tip bare. Head rather small. Body robust, anal tuft of male 

 broad and flat, that of the female very slight. Middle and hind tibiae hairy. Tongue present. 

 Antennae long, slightly enlarged towards the tip, with fascicles of cilia in the male, simple in the 

 female. Fore wings with 12 veins; R 4 and R 5 stalked. Hind wings with veins M 3 and Cu t on a 

 short stalk. Discocellulars slightly oblique. 



Type : Bembecia sequoice Hy. Edwards. 



Vespamima sequoiae (Hy. Edw.). 



Plate XXX, Fig. 23, Male. 



Bembecia sequoice Hy. Edwards, Papilio, Vol. I, 188 1, p. 181 ; Ins. Inj. For. and Sh. Trees, Bull. 



No. 7, U. S. Ent. Com. 1881, pp. 258, 261 ; Grote, New Check List N. Am. Moths, 1882, 



p. 11 ; Packard, 5th Rep. U. S. Ent. Com. 1890, pp. 733 and 922. 

 Vespamima sequoice Beutenmuller, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. VI, 1894, p. 87 ; ibid. Vol. VIII, 



1896, p. 119 ; ibid. Vol. IX, 1897, p. 218. 

 Bembecia superba Hy. Edwards, Papilio, Vol. I, 1881, p. 181 ; Grote, New Check List N. Am. 



Moths, 1882, p. 11. 

 Algeria pinorum Behrens, French, Can. Ent. Vol. XXI, 1889, p. 163 ; Packard, 5th Rep. U. S. 



Ent. Com. 1890, p. 371. 



Male. — Head black, palpi yellow marked with black outside. Collar yellow. Antennae black. 

 Thorax black with a very narrow yellow line on each side, somewhat broader behind. Posterior 

 end of thorax with a transverse yellow mark. Abdomen black with all the segments, except the 

 first and third, bordered with rich lemon yellow above and below. Anal tuft black above, yellow 

 beneath. Legs yellow and black ; fore coxae yellow ; femora black outside, tibiae yellow, and 

 tarsi yellow banded with black. Fore wings transparent with very narrow black borders, and a trans- 

 verse mark on each; on the base of the wings at the junction of thorax is a distinct yellow spot. 

 Hind wings with margin very narrow, black, slightly yellow along the inner margin. 



Female. — Similar to the male, but a little larger and more robust, the abdominal bands broader 

 and better defined. Anal tuft straight. 



Expanse : Male, 24-28 mm. ; female, 26-30 mm. 



Habitat. — California (Mendocino Co.) and Washington. 



Types : Two males and two females. Hy. Edwards Coll., Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



Larva. — " Head shaped normally (S. exitiosa), but the epicranial lobes not meeting, pointed 

 towards each other, and approximate, the doubled black suture of the paraclypeal pieces running 

 through to the vertical triangle. No upper clypeal impression. Brown, clypeus darker, a pale area 

 above it and a stripe on each side of the paraclypeal pieces equalling them in width. Setae distinct, 

 ii and iv especially large, only i rudimentary ; clypeal and paraclypeal setae evident. Labrum 

 brown, jaws black, epistoma pale brown. Body flat below, segments obscurely 3-annulate, the second 

 highest. Tubercles large, colorless, setae coarse and distinct; hair tubercles brown. Crochets of 

 abdominal feet 7 to 11 in a row. Anal plate slightly corrugated, bearing a subdorsal tubercle, round 

 and elevated." — (Dyar, MS.) 



According to Hy. Edwards this species is devastating the pine forests in 

 Mendocino County, California, and is particularly destructive to the big-tree 

 {Sequoia sernpervirens), Pinus ponderosus, and Pinus lambertiana. The eggs are 

 laid in the axils of the branches, the young caterpillar boring in a tortuous man- 

 ner about its retreat, thus diverting the flow of the sap, and causing large resin- 

 ous nodules to form at the place of its workings. (Plate XXXIV, Figs. 1-3.) 

 These nodules gradually harden, the branch then dies, and the tree at last sue- 



