To the courtesy of some of my correspondents from British North America I owe a series of specimens, some of which proved undescribed. The species sent by Dr. Fletcher is of some economic importance, and its prompt description seems desirable. The other species have been in MSS. for sonle time, and were intended to form part of a lengthy deescriptive paper. Their publication together at this time gives this contribution a somewhat faunal character.

To whom should a species be credited: to the author who names it a variety and declares positively that it is not distinct from another, which he considers the stem, or to the author who first points out the specific characters and establishes its distinctness?

In 1875 Dr. A. Speyer, in his paper on “Europäisch-amerikanische Verwandschaften,” gives first, a list of American species which he cousiders distinct from European forms, a list of species occurring in both countries, a list of questionable forms, and then elaborates these lists by a series of notes. In the list of species common to both countries, he enumerates Hydroecia nictitans, and afterwards points out somer minor differences in the series before him, noting that Guenée had previously errumerated most of them. On page 152 of the volume he speaks as follows: “Als eigene Art wird sich die amerikanische Nictitans von der europaischen nicht trennen lassen, da ein völlig durchgreifender Unterschied zwischen beiden fehlt. Eine ausgezeichnete Varietat bildet sie aber jedenfalls.”

It is very curious and interesting to observe the waves of insect life that annually pass over this district. For instance, some four years ago the genus Acronycta was strongly represented in some ten or twelve species. The following sesson that genus almost disappeared, and its place was taken by the old genus Agrotis, with its now nutnerous subdivisions. Last year the various species of the genus Carneades were certainiy in the ascendant, and occasionally there comes a year like this, when perhaps only an odd species or two show up in any quantity, as was the case more particularly with Carneades pitycltrous, and while most of the great geuera lvere almost entirely absent, one's labours were rewarded by the capture of a ferv specimens of species comparatively rare hereabouts.

During 1900–01 I made some studies on the Bombide occurring in Colorado. This paper is an abstract of those studies, the main body of which is in an unpublished thesis deposited with the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture at Ft. Collins, Colorado. The material used is in the collection at the State Agricultural College of Colorado, and in my own collection; also a few specimens at the U. S. Nat. Mus. Most of the collection passed through the hands of Mr. Wm. H. Ashmead, who corrected determinations and who very kindly looked over the table given below, not only making corrections in it, but adding some species I had not recognized.

On April 27th, while collecting with my young son, Robert, the boy distinguished himself by capturing several ,♂ ♂ of Anæa andria, at a point east of Richmond, Ind., not far frorn the Indiana-Ohio State line. The authorities give the habitat of andria as “Western States, from Illinois to Texas; Nebraska.” No ♀ ♀ were seen nor were any specimens seen in the fall. I presume that south-western Ohio can be considered its most eastern habitat. No apparent difference exists between the specimens referred to and material from Texas and other western points.

♀. –Length about 12 mm.; black; head and thorax with pale ochraceous or whitish hair, very short and thin on thoracic dorsum ; head ordinary, facial quadrangle square; vertex behind the ocelli finely roughened and punctnred; front below the ocelli punctured as well as grooved; facial foveæ broad, pale, closely adjacent to eyes; antennæ dark; clypeus thinly hirsute, shining, strongry but not densely punctured, no median smooth line; process of labrum truncate; maxillary palpi short; mesothorax shining, strongly but not densely punctured, metathorax very coarsely roughened, enclosure irregularly subreticurately ridged, but without a transverse bounding ridge; tegulæ dark, with a ferruginous spot; wings dusky with a yellow tint, nervures and stigma ferruginous, second submarginal cell broad; legs wholly dark; hind tibial spur of hind legs much curved; hair on inner side of basal joint of hind tarsi fulvous; abdomen shining, stronglyand closely punctured, finely pubescent at sides, but without dorsal hair-bands; fimbria fulvous.

In my neighbourhood I find the typical Andrena Cressonii, Rob., and the form described below as A. dubia, the latter more rare. To compare this with the form described as A. Bridwellii,Ckill., I have obtained from Mr. Bridwell for examination thiry-three specimens taken by ghim at Baldwin, Kansas, and labelled A. Cressonii, A. Kansensis, and A. Bridwellii.

A. Kattsensis is the same as A.Cressonii, the colour of the pubescence being characteristic of unfaded specimetrs. Local specimens sometimes have the hind tibiæ and tarsi ferruginons in both sexes.

In the December number, 1900, of this journal, page 369, the writer published the life-history of the above Arctian. During the past summer, through the kindness of Mr. A. Kwiat, of Chicago, in forwarding eggs of A. phalerata (laid 18th June), I have had the opportunity of still further studying this species, and, as these larvæ varied considerably fromthose described in 1900, the following notes were made :

In the larval stages i, ii and iii those bred in 1901 answered well to my former descriptions. In stage iv the larvæ were not so black as the specimens reared the previous year, but many of them showed the dorsal stripe. This stripe was also present in stage v, besides which 40 of the larvæ possessed a series of pale orange spots on sides between tubercles ii and iii, and iii and iv, and the skin of the body in a line with the upper spots(between tubercles ii and iii) was slightly grayish, not black like the rest of the skin; this and the spots gave the appearance of a faint lateral band, distinguishable on all segments but 2 and 13. In stage v in 1900 none of the larvæ showed the dorsal stripe.

At the meeting of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, on the evening of January 6, 1902, Mrs. Wm. Bouton, on behalf of herself and a considerable number of other persons, presentd to the Academy a collection of 633 butterflies mounted on Denton tablets, on condition that the collectio should be made accessible to the public.