Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
Quick search

Print ISSN 0033-2615
January 2008: Psyche has a new publisher, Hindawi Publishing, and is accepting submissions

Article beginning on page 200.
Psyche 7:200-201, 1894.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/7/7-200.html


The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

~~~~. [February 1895.
THE TIPULID GENERA BITTACOMORPHA AND PEDICIA. BY J. M. ALDRICH, MOSCOW, IDAHO.
BITTACOMORPHA. Westwood, Lond.
Edinb. philos. mag., vi, 281 (1835).
The only known species up to 1890
was clavifes, described by Fabricius
in his '' Species insectoruin" in 1781
under the generic name of Tipula. In
his Systeina Antliatomm " (1805) he
referred it to the genus Ptychoptera,
where it remained until Westwood
erected for it the present genus in 1835. In s8go von Roder described the
second species, sackenii, from a single
damaged specimen, captured in
Nevada. This species and one
described in the present article both
occur in the neighborhood of Puget
Sound. As iron R6der's description
is not readily accessible to American
students, and does not include all the
important characters, I redescribe
the species.
Table of Species.
I. All the tibiae ringed with suow white near the base ; all the metatarsi white at base. . 2.
Tibiae not ringed, metatarsi white at tip, instead of base. sackeniiv. R6der.
3. Dorsum of thorax deep velvety black with a white middle line; second sub- marginal cell one-third as long as the first posterior. . . clavi$es Fabr. Dorsum of thorax shining black, nomiddle line of white ; second submarginal cell half as long as first posterior.
Biltacomor$lia. sackem'i Von Rsder,
Wiener entom. zeit. ix, 230.- 8. Front
infuscated, face yellow; both overlaid with a' thin white sericeous coating ; proboscis light yellow, palpi infuscated. Antennae 19-jointed, elongate, equalling the wing in length, uniform black in color. Thorax wholly pale yellow, except the dorsum
which is shining black, the humeri, supra- alar area, and a spot before the scutellum, yellow; between the coxae at the sides
there is a black spot in each interval, con- siderably expanded in fully-colored speci- mens; metanotum and knob of haltei-es
infuscated. Abdomen long, strongly clavate, black, with short, scattered white pile; the first segment pale at base, all the segments . occidentalis, 11. sp.
with a narrow pale distal band; second
segment 13 times as long as the third,
fourth and fifth each about equal to the third ; claspers small, compact, black, with a pair of black palpi-like organs covered with black hairs. Femora pale at base,
the apical half or more black, but in lighter specimens sometimes only an apical black ring; tibiae of the same color, not so light at base; metatarsi black, with white tip; second and third joints of tarsi white, the rest brown. Wings hyaline, along the apex distinctly hairy, venation as in B. clavifes, Length, IS mm; of wing, 74 mm.
9. Antennae shorter, wings longer and
wider, the latter scarcely exceeding half the length of the former.
Pm-hf 7 200.202 tprc.1903). htlp:tfpsyclirciilclub orSpi7-200 html



================================================================================

Five m lies, two females, Seattle,
Washington, at Lake Union, the last
of Augiist and first few days of Sep-
temhcr, 1894.
Bitfacomo+ka. occin'oitalis, n. sp. 9.
Head wholly bliick, the front and the pointed face with ;i white seriesous covering; the antennae wonid extend about to the tip of the first abdominal segment; if bent back iilong the sides. Thorax black, the dorsum wholly shining: scutelluin yellow; pleura white sericeous. a spot before the root of the wing arii.1 one above the base of the halters vcllowisli-poll~nose. Abdomen black, the posterior margins of the segments narrowly -vhitish. Fernom pale at base gradually
darker to the tip. which is black; tibiae ringed with white near the baac; second
ind third tarsi11 joints, and the b:ise of the neLaLtirsi, white; the metatarsus is as long ;is the following joints taken together, and its black part is soinewhat swollen. Wings liyaline, the second siibin~t'giniil cell almost h~ilf as long as the first posterior.
3. The antennae Fire I~roketl off
One female Custer, S. D. (Black
Hills, 5000 feet), August, 1892, in a
moist meadow.
Comparing Osten Sacken's notes in
"Western Diptera," p. 207, and in his
catalogue, p. 36, it may resisonably be
doubted whether the true clav+es has
yet been found west of the Rocky
Mountains.
PEDICIA. Latreille, Gen. ' Crust.
Ins. iv, 255, 1809.
This genus is a somewhat difficult
one to determine, from the fact that
the palpi have the same structure as in
the section Zongipalpi, while the vena-
tion and other characters make it out
a member of the trevi-pal&'. In other
words, it is a brevipalp Tipulid with
log palpi. Several years ago I
received from Mr. Chas. Palm a fine
hairs.
Length, 18-19 mm.; ofwing 3, 84,
$?, 114 mm.
One male, two females, Seattle,
\V:tsh. One specimen was collected
the last of August, 1894, at Lakeunion.
This is possibly the species referred
to in Osten Sacken's note to B. cla-
-~ipes, Catalogue, p. 36. where lie says, ..Specimens from California in Mr.
Ven'all's collection in London have a
shining thorax and a shorter subm:irgi-
~ a l cell ; they may belong to a different species." They could not belong to
occideiitalis unless tlie word shorter"
in the quotation were a slip of the pen
for '. l011ger."
from my only specimen; abdomen
less clarate than in 5. .wche/it'i, the
ippeiichiges dark brown with pale
Pedida alhivilta Walk. 8. 3.
male of P. albivitta Walk., the only
eastern species, a particularly handsome insect, which remained an enigma to
me for a long time. In Baron Osten
Sacken's monograph no figure of the
wing is given, and as the venation is
very peculiar, I annex a figure to
facilitate the recognition of Ole genus. The genus Amalofis Haliday is some-
what similar in venation, but has the
brown coloring, if at all, in an entirely different pattern.




================================================================================

202 PSYCHE. [February 1895
Psdtcra obtusa Osten Sacken, Western
Dipt., 205. -The description of this species given by Osten Sacken was only a provi-
sional one, covering the salient features, owing to the fact that he did not have the specimen before him at the time, but
depended upon Mr. lly Edwards, the owner of the type, to write him the characters. As I have a specimen, I record the full description. 8. Head small, grayish, the antennae
yellow, palpi brown; frontal tubercle distinct, close to the antennae. Thorax grayish
sericeous, ground color yellow, a double brown line on the dorsum and an abbreviated one each side of it, reaching to the trans- verse suture; on the pronoturn a narrow
median black line; a black stripe from the humerus to the base of the wing. Disk of nietathorax and knobs of halters irifuscaled. median line; the horny genital appendages are rather elongate, yellow, not infuscated. Legs brownish yellow, tips of femora and tibiae more infuscated, tarsi dark brown. Wings hyaline and brown, with almost the same pattern as in P. dbiuifla. The tip of the wing is not bent back so far as
in the
litter species. The brown color follows the fifth vein to the margin, differing in this respect from Mr. Edwards's specimen.
Length, 28 mm. ; of win1:;, 22 mm.
Lake Union, Seattle, Washington,
the last of August.
The most important structural differ-
ence between this and P. albivltta is
in the male lamellae, which are more
than twice as large in Hie present
Abdomen light brown, darker along the species. GALL OF EURYTOMA SP. ON THE CAT'S-CLAW THORN. BY C. I*. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N. MEX. Specimens of a veiy hard rounded
gall were found on branches and
twigs of the cat's-claw thorn (Acacia
sp.), which grows plentifully from
near base to part
way up llie Organ
Mts., at the north end of the range,
about three miles southeast of San
Augustine. These galls greatly re-
semble those of Rhodites. At the
date on which they were found, Nov.
26, 1892, they appeared to be empty,
the insects having mostly escaped
through numbers of small holes in
each gall. The galls were quite
plentiful. From those containing
exit holes, the following brief desc~ip- tion is drawn.
Gall. -Length (measuied on twig), 10
to 19 mm. ; greatest width 8& to 16 mm.
Oblong-rounded or suboval, very hard,
always formed on one side of the twig,
the other side of the twig even with the surface of the sail and its bark left intact, the bark of the rest of the twig or branch being split by the growing of the gall and adhering to its surface in imperfect strips, being best preserved next the sides of twig. Smaller specimens do not show this. Color reddish brown, more or less grayish where covered with bark and in smaller galls.
Bulged surface that is not covered by bark finely roughened, sometimes more or less split in process of swelling.
Four galls. The small ones show
only from one tu three holes each.
A larger gall shows about twenty
exit holes, and in addition numbers
of very minute holes through which
parasites of the gall flies must have
escaped. The minute holes are about




================================================================================


Volume 7 table of contents