Euthrips tritici (Fitch.).— At Las Vegas, Hot Springs, N.M., on May 17, 1903, I found Ribes cereum, Doughl, presenting numerous flowergalls of rather pumpkin-like form and greenish-white colour, about 9 mm long and 8 broad. These consisted of the swollen and deformed flowers, the walls of the calyx being thickened and greatly inflated. I rather expected to find in them dipterous larvæ, but they contained nothing but thrips, which, I am sure, is responsible for the damage. After careful comparison with the published accounts, and especially that of Mr. W. E. Hinds, I am quite unable to separate the thrips from the well-known Euthrips tritici.

A single specimen was collected one evening at Las Vegas, at a flower of Gaura coccinea. I then remarked of it: “Face narrower than type; possibly a distinct species.” It seemed strange that it should be visiting the Gaura, but it did not occur to me that I had a genuinely vespertine bee. On June 22, 1903, at Pecos, I was astonished to see a number of bees busily collecting pollen from the flowers of Galpinsia fendleri (a large yellow evening primrose)after sunset, at 7.30 p.m. I collected some, and found that they were my “Halictus amicus, var. a, ” which is evidently a distinct species. It is readily known from H. amicus by the narrower face and more sparsely punctured clypeus.

It is well known that a small percentage of the people in this country, and perhaps in all countries, are more or less colour-blind, and it is a noteworthy fact that such persons are often entirely unconscious of it or do not fully appreciate its disadvantages. The officials of the railroads and certain other corporations test the applicants for situations, and if they are found to be colour-blind, or not able to distinguish colours accurately, they are not employed. It will be readily seen that if a railroad engineer or the officer of the deck on one or our large passenger ships could not distinguish between red and green signal lights in the night, most disastrous accidents might be the result.

Gyrinidœ

1505, Gyrinus minutus, Fab., '80.

*1514 Gyrinus aquiris, Lec., '80.

Gyrinus sp., ' 80.

Hydrophilidœ

1542, Helophorus oblongus, Lec, '79, '80.

1543, Helophorus lacustris, Lec., '80.

1546, Helophorus linearis, Lec., '80.

1597, Hydrocharis obtusatus, Say, '80.

1614, Berosus striatus, Say, '80, '81.

*1622, Laccobius ellipticus, Lec., '80.

1653, Hydrobius fuscipes, Linn., '79, '81.

Cercyon, sp., '81.

Length,.35 inch. Head dark fawn colour, scabrous, much prolonged between the antennæ, the prolongation suggestive of the nose of the moose. Eyes upon rounded elevations, black and protuberant. The antennary spine stout, sharp and projecting. Antennæ reddish brown above, olivaceous beneath; the joint next the spine distinct and square cut and of greater diameter than that following it. Beak black, long, extending between the front legs. Prothorax dark umber in colour, concave in front, the concavity ending on either side with a short spine. From the bases of these spinse the sides (which are finely denticulated) run direct to the widest part of the prothorax; from thence they are rounded to the back, forming a pair of clay-yellow epaulets, which extend beyond the slightly-curved remainder of the back line.

I have taken, in the Province of Quebec, the undermentioned species of two-winged flies, the names of which do not appear in the Toronto Check List

A number of new species. either entirely new or known only from Mexico or Central America, have been brought back by me from the lower Rio Grande. The description of these new species, together with a list of the species known to occur in that region, will be published by me in the Bulletin of the Museum of the Brooklyn Inst. of Arts and Sciences. The two following species are here described in advance, in order that they may be included in the revision of the Ptinidæ on which Prof. Fall is at work.

The new Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of North America which I have prepared has been issued as Bulletin No.52 of the United States National Museum. It comprises 740 pages. The edition is being distributed by the Smithsonian Institution, without charge. Those not receiving the publications of the National Museum regularly, and who are interested enough in entomology so that this publication would be of practical use to them, will be cheerfully recommended by me to receive a copy, on making application to the undersigned.

Professor N. J. Kusnezov, of St. Petersburg, Russia has recently described a new Catocala from Texas, with four figures. A reprint of the description of the species may be of interest to American collectors, hence I reproduce it below:

“Catacala orba, Kusnezov.—Expanse of male 48 mm; size of C. Judith. Strecker.

“ Antennæ of male ciliate, gray, scaled above, with slight tuftings of hair below. (Palpi broken off.) Front densely covered with whitish-gray hairs. Patagia and front parts of tegulæ and mesothorax dark brown; vertex gray; the rest of tegulæ, nota, and crest on metathorax, whitishgray. Upper part, sides and crests of the abdominal somites dark gray; anal tuft long, dark gray, lighter below. Thorax on the under side and femora thickly clothed with long, dirty white hairs and scales. (Fore tibiæ broken off.)

Records of duplication of members in hexapod larvæ are so rare that I submit the subjoined account, drawn up from a specimen of the young of Corydalis cornuta, captured in the river near Iowa City, several years ago. The insect is one of a number that I took for class dissection, and as far as noted, the remainder did not depart from the ordinary type. A notice of the case was prepared at the time and sent to a scientific journal on the eve of its suspending publication, so that I think the article was never printed.

Mr. Percy B. Gregson, of Blackfalds, Alta., sends a painting, made by Mr. F.C. Clare, of Edmonton, of the larva of Deilephila galii, Rottemburg. Mr. Gregson writes that these large larvæ are luscious treat for prairie chickens in early autumn, and are quite often found entire, although, of course, dead, in their crops. These larvæ in the Northwest feed on the Giant Willowherb [Chamœnerion angustifolium (L.), Scop.], and it was from this food-plant that is more generally-known name of Chamœnerii was derived. I have read that these larvæ are also eaten regularly by some tribes of Indians in California. Some years ago I examined the contents of the crops of four prairie chickens from Western Mantioba, and found them stuffed with the hips of the prairie rose, the leaves of the alkali-loving Ranunculs [Oxygraphis cymbalaria (Pursh) Prantl.], and many specimens of Chrysomela lunata, Fab.

Eulepiste Kearfotti, n. sp.

Gray, with a reddish ochreous tint, brighter in an obscure streak beyond cell and on submedian fold. A series of black strigæ along the costa and on fringe; a small dash beyond cell, and an oblique bar in submedian fold beyond middle. Hind wing blackfish, fringe long, pale, interlined with blackish. Below, blackish, with a pale line at the base of the fringe. Expanse, 22 mm.

Two males from Mr. W.D. Kearfott's collection, “Yuma Co., Ariz. Desert.”

Larger than the other species of Eculepiste, and differing in the genitalia, Uncus a single long spine, curving downward, opposed to a broad, concave basal plate. Side pieces strap-shaped or slightly concave, curved downward, and with a distinct spine on the lower angle.

In the August number of this journal, Mr. Coquillett has given his reasons for not accepting Culex inornatus as the proper name for the species which he has called C. consobrinus. He bases his claim for the name consobrinus on a supposed error of Desvoidy's in the indentification of pipiens, relying on the length mentioned, 3 lines, as proof that Desviody's species could not have been the real pipiens. My own article on the subject, in the July number, had intimated that Desvoidy had erred in the measurment given. Since then I find that Theobald (Mon. Culicidæ. II.; 135) gives 6 mm. as the maximum length of pipiens; this, of course, is equivalent to Desvoidy's 3 lines.

Little is known regarding the sounds produced by the Rhynchota, and that little refers almost exclusively to the Cryptocerata, of which Corixa has had the most attention; and some few observations have been made on Nepa, Sigara and Notonecta. It seems to me, therefore, that it would be well to put on record the observations and notes made by me on the stridulation of Ranatra, together with a few other remarks on this insect.

In Sir George Hampson's volume on the Syntomids, Cat. Lep. Phalænæ, Vol. I., London 1898, Ctenucha Cressonana is referred as a synonym to C. venosa, but erroneously so. Both species inhabit our Nort American territory, but C. venosa has the wider and more southern range, extending probably from Arizona, through Mexico, into South America. I know C. Cressonana from Colorado and New Mexico only; this larger form is also variable in the colors of the stripes of the wing, whereas C. venosa is quite constant, so far as the examples I have been able to examine are concerned.

Desvoidy published this species in 1827, in the Memoirs of the Society of Natural History of Paris, Vol. III., p. 408. The entire description is as follows:

27. Culex Consobrinus, R.D.

Simillimus præcedenti; palpis, tarasique bruneis.