152 



Should an extended series of bred specimens of any of these darker forms estab- 

 lish a reliable means of distinguishing them, it is yet possible that one of Chambers' 

 names may be hereafter revived for this more probable variety. 



Cryptolechia concolorella Beut. 



Mr. Beutenmiiller has lately published (Ent. Am., iv, 30), a description under this 

 name. He is probably right in referring it to this genus, but as he gives no descrip- 

 tion of the neuration, or of the form of the wings, nor any details of structure it is 

 impossible to place it correctly. 



STENOMA SCHLAEGERI Z., AND ITS ALLIES FROM THE UNITED STATES. 



Cryptolechia schlaegeri was first described by Zeller in 1854, in the ninth volume of 

 the Liunea Entomologica, pages 372-3, and figured on Plate 3, Fig. 18 of the same 

 volume. The description was taken from specimens of both sexes from New York in 

 his own collection ; the hind wings are described as gray with whitish cilia. In the 

 tenth volume of the same publication, pages 158-9, he supplements his description 

 of the species, and compares it with the Mexican Cryptolechia frontalis there described. 

 Here he remarks that the hind wings of the female are usually whitish. He goes on 

 to describe a variety of the same species from Georgia, " var. I). $ parva, alis ant. 

 breviusculis," in the King's Museum, at Berlin, of which he writes that the hind 

 wings are lighter gray than in the male of var. a, but darker than in the female of 

 that variety. A careful examination of about twenty specimens (including Zeller's 

 type) from various localities in the United States proves that at least two distinct 

 forms exist. These two forms are easily separable by the shape of the uncus in the 

 males, and usually by the color of the hind wings ; the commonest form having pale 

 hind wings, especially in the $ — schlaegeri of Zeller — has the uncus simple, scarcely 

 enlarged towards its apex and ending in an obtuse point (Fig. 25a). The other hav- 

 ing dark cinereous hind wings in the $ , has the uncus dilated and distinctly notched 

 or furcate at the apex (Fig. 25&). The form of the lateral claspers is approximately 

 the same in both. 



r//-~^\ The small variety (var. b. of Zeller's supplementary no- 

 // tice) from Georgia and Texas has the hind wings and simple 



/( uncus of the true schlaegeri and is apparently undistin- 



^ ~L guishable from it, except in size, since the markings on 



„ „„ _, the anterior wings are subject to some variation in position 



Fig. 25.— Cryptolechia ° . «\ . r 



schlaegeri: a. Uncus of the and intensity of coloring in specimens of all sizes. The 

 commonform. ft. Uncus of the shorter ciliation of the antennae, noticed by Zeller, is 

 less common form. Enlarged scarcely more than proportionate to the reduced size of 

 (original). each individual. 



C. frontalis is described as having the hind wings gray, but broader than in 

 schlaegeri. So far, so good. It is noticeable that in the supposed form of schlaegeri, 

 described in Zeller's supplementary paper (Lin. Ent. x, pages 158-9) with paler hind 

 wings (and simple uncus) there is considerable variation in the shape and position of 

 vein 2 of the fore wings, both in the large variety (Zeller's var. a) and in the small form 

 (var. b of Zeller). In some specimens vein 2 arises from the same point as vein 3 and 

 proceeds with a slight bend to the margin above the anal angle. In others it arises 

 either from the same point as vein 3, or extremely close to it, and is abruptly bent 

 backwards in the first instance before taking its ordinary direction. In others again 

 this vein arises quite separate from vein 3, being more or less beut in its outward 

 course; in one specimen before me, which is undistinguishable from Zeller's var. b, 

 these veins are separated at their origin by even a greater distance than that which 

 separates veins 3 and 4, but this appears to be exceptional. 



