beutenmuller, monograph of the SESIID^E. 293 



wholly bronzy black. Anal tuft marked with white beneath. Legs blue black ; tibiae with white 

 tufts ; anterior coxae pure white. Fore wings transparent, with violet brown borders ; costal and 

 inner margins narrow ; outer margin broad, golden yellow between the veins. Discal mark distinct, 

 blue black. Underside scaled with pale yellow. Hind wings transparent with outer margin 

 narrow, violet or blue black. Underside similar to the above. 



Female. — Wholly bronzy black with violaceous reflections, except the transparent parts of the 

 wings. The legs with bluish reflection and white tufts on the tibiae. Fore wings beneath on the 

 costal margin and discal marked with yellow scales. Antennae always with a prominent white patch 

 before the tip. 



Expanse : Male, 15-18 mm ; female, 18-22 mm. 



Habitat— New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Illinois, Colorado, California, 

 Nevada, Oregon. 



Type : One female. Coll Hy. Edwards, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist ; sFgeria proxima, one female. 

 Coll. F. Tepper, Agricul. College, Michigan. 



Larva. — " Normal (S. exitiosd) ; clypeus high and narrow, the lower angles cut off, the lobes 

 touching in a rather broad point ; paraclypeal pieces rounded above, narrowed centrally. Brown, a 

 light space about paraclypeal pieces, clypeal sutures and mouth brown, a black spot at the base of 

 antennae. Body white, annulets distinct, the second the larger ; subventral folds slight. Shields 

 faintly luteous, the cervical with brown curved lines. Tubercles nearly obsolete; setae moderate. 

 Abdominal crochets 10 to 14 in a row." (Dyar, MS) 



A common species locally. The moths are found during May and early in 

 June. In the larval stage it lives in the trunks and canes of young willows 

 growing in swampy places. It also inhabits the burrows of Cryptorhynchus 

 lapathi and the galls of Saperda concolor. 



Sesia americana (Beuten^). 



Plate XXXII, Fig. 30, Male. 



Algeria culiciformis Beutenmuller, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. VI, 1894, p. 93. 



Sesia culiciformis var. americana Beutenmuller, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. VIII, 1896, p. 136, 



Sesia americana Beutenmuller, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Vol. IX, 1897, p. 136. 



Male. — Head deep blue black, orbits white ; palpi black above, bright orange below. Thorax 

 and abdomen metallic blue black, the former with an orange patch on each side beneath and the 

 latter with the fourth segment red, sometimes with a red stripe on each side from the base to band 

 on fourth segment. Anal tuft same color as the abdomen. Legs metallic blue black, tarsi tinged 

 with sordid white. Fore wings transparent, opalescent, with blue black borders and discal mark. 

 Underside pale orange at the base. Hind wings with margin narrow ; discal mark slight. 



Female. — Same as the male, but the abdomen is more robust and the antennae are simple. 



Expanse : Male and female, 21-25 mm. 



Habitat. — Nevada, British Columbia, Washington. 



Types : One male and three females. Coll. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



Closely allied to S. culiciformis, of which it may possibly be a climatic vari- 

 ety. It differs by having the fore wings blue black beneath, and by the absence 

 of the pale bands on the legs. 



In the larval stages it lives under the bark of alder and in the solid wood of 

 the young stems (Plate XXXV, Fig. 2). 



