302 NEUROPTERA. 
nicht hyalin. Auf dem Dorsum vor den Fligeln sehe ich keinen dunklen Fleck, doch kann derselbe 
vielleicht durch Ausbleichen im Laufe der Zeit verschwunden sein. Die Genitalhaken sind etwas s0 
[diagram]. T'ramea cophysa Koll. MS. ist in einem sehr defekten Stiicke (Original !) erhalten. Auch 
hier sehe ich keinen deutlichen dunklen Fleck auf dem braunen Dorsum des Thorax. Ich glaube dass 
das Exemplar der basalis sehr ahnlich ist, aber doch verschieden. Die gelben Flecken an der Seiten des 
Thorax sind gross und der proximale Rand der Hinterfliigel ist lichter. Die Genitalhaken sind aibnlich 
und Stirn u. Scheitel dunkel metallisch.”’ 
One feature by which cophysa is distinguished, according to Hagen *, is the presence on the thoracic dorsum 
of “einem grossen viereckigen, dunkelbraunen Fleck, der wenig scharf begrenzt und gegen die Fliigel 
hin plotzlich verengt ist.” It is to this spot that some of Dr. Handlirsch’s notes refer, and on learning 
of the absence of this spot in the Vienna example of cophysa, I wrote to Mr. Henshaw inquiring if this 
thoracic spot in the type in the M. C. Z. could be of post-mortem origin, but he replied (Oct. 10, 1904), 
“The blackish spot on the thoracic dorsum of Tramea cophysa, Hagen, is not due to discoloration.” 
My first conclusion was that cophysa and basalis were distinct, although closely related, differing in that 
cophysa had the anal margin of the hind wings hyaline and the dark brown spot on the thoracic dorsum, 
while basalis had no hyaline anal margin nor brown dorsal thoracic spot. A renewed study, and much 
additional material from Colombia and Brazil, compel me to discard the idea that the colour of the anal 
margin is sufficiently constant to be used as a diagnostic mark, and as I find no specimens (otherwise 
cophysa) with the dark thoracic spot, I strongly incline to the view that that spot in the M. C. Z. type is 
probably in some way abnormal. It should be mentioned that I have before me, from Hagen’s collection 
in the M.C. Z., certain specimens which he referred to basalis, viz. the Brazilian male with the ‘‘ Thorax 
seitlich zerdriickt ” from the Berlin Museum, one of the Surinam males, the “ Weibchen aus Para von 
Selys als Lib. fabia Sel. mitgetheilt,” and the “ Weibchen meiner Sammlung aus Venezuela” (cf. Hagen’, 
pp. 224, 226), 
The name Libellula basalis, Burm., is preoccupied by that of Stephens and perhaps also by that of Say 
(cf. Calvert, Ent. News, xvii. p.30, 1906). Mr. Kirby * has referred incerta, Ramb.’, to busalis, Burm., but 
Rambur’s description is so brief that this identification must remain in doubt until Rambur’s type is 
studied. Ina purely provisional way, therefore, cophysa is here adopted as the name of this species. 
In all the males here listed, the basal brown marking of the hind wings reaches to the hind margin, or within 
one cell thereof; its distal limit is the origin of A, or not quite so far, except in the Panama example in 
which the posterior angle of the triangle is attained in the postcostal space, and in one from Venezuela 
referred to below. 
The distal limit of this marking in the females is as above stated for the generality of the males except in 
examples from Bonda and Chapada, in which it varies from the origin of A, to the triangle, even in 
specimens taken in the same month, e. g. July, August at Bonda, The backward extension of this same 
marking reaches to within 3-5 mm. of the hind margin (Teapa, February), to the margin or three cells 
short of it (Bonda, July, August, also Babahoyo). The colour of the anal margin of the hind wings 
varies from clear hyaline to a tint as deep as that of the basal marking itself in the Bonda females; some 
of these females are pruinose on the under side of thorax and abdomen, yet the two pale stripes of the 
sides of the thorax show distinctly, as they also do in the teneral reared female from Los Amates. 
A male and a female from Venezuela (U.S, NV. M.) and one from the same country in the M. C. Z. (“« Weibchen 
meiner Sammlung,” Hagen, wide supra) have the basal brown of the hind wings reaching to the triangle 
in the postcostal space; they tend to two rows of cells between A, and A, for a short distance. Similar 
to them are some unlabelled, but presumably Brazilian, specimens (Carn. Mus. Pittsb.); these last have 
longer abdominal appendages: ¢ 4°5, 9 4mm. 
The specimens from Chapada (but not that from Rio Grande do Sul) are smaller than the measurements given 
on p. 300: abdomen, ¢ 27-28°5, 9 27:5-29; hind wing, ¢ 35-38, 9 37-40 mm.; and the transverse 
metallic-violet stripe on the upper surface of the frons is as narrow in the males(°5 mm.) as in the females. 
The number of antecubitals on the hind wings varies from 7-8, symmetrically and asymmetrically, in the 
same locality (e. g. Teapa). 
Hab. Mexico, Guadalupe, Distrito Federal [Zower: 1 3], Vera Cruz [1 2] (coll. 
P. P. C.), Teapa in Tabasco (Hl. H. Smith: 43, 3 2); Guatemata, Los Amates 
