217 



would say cvidmter rugoso. These specimens do not ex- 

 actly agree with any of your descriptions, and they certainly 

 are all of one species, and were all taken in one locality. 



I was much struck with your suggestion regarding C. Hentzii 

 and C. rufiventris, and almost tempted to consider them as con- 

 stituting but one species. I want to see more specimens of 

 rufiv&ntris, however, before adopting this conclusion. Of all' 

 those of the Hentzii that have passed under my observation 

 (and I suppose that I have seen every one that has been taken, 

 amounting to near a hundred in all), I never yet saw any one 

 so obsoletely characterized as rufiventris ; nor, of the latter, 

 any one so completely marked with hmules and band as 

 Hentzii. Should any specimens occur intermediate between 

 the two in characteristic markings, and also in size (for our C. 

 Hentzii is, I believe, uniformly larger than rufiventris), it may 

 help to settle all doubts on the subject of identity. Both being, 

 I believe, mountain species, others should be looked for on moun- 

 tain ranges between North Carolina and Massachusetts, and on 

 porphyritic and sienitic rocks, in such localities. If in the end 

 the two should be considered as forming only one species, 

 then, C. Hentzii, being the most perfectly marked, must consti- 

 tute the type, and C. rufiventris the variety ; but I am not 

 yet prepared to sink either of them to a synonym in nomen- 

 clature. Mr. MacLeay has somewhere remarked that he did 

 not see any difference between permanent varieties and species. 

 There is something for consideration in such an opinion even if 

 we do not adopt it to its full extent. 



Allow me to add a criticism on Gicindela trifasciata of 

 Fabricius, to which I find you referred tortuosa of Dejean. 

 Of trifasciata, Fabricius says : - - " Habitat in America, in 

 Italia paullo minor. Corpus supra obscurum, subtus ceneo 

 nitidum. Labium album. Elytra strigis tribus, prima abbre- 

 viata, lunata, secunda flexuosa, tertia apicis.^ Ent. Syst., I, 177, 

 No. 33. Please here to observe two things; first, that the in- 

 termediate band is described as flexuosa ; and second, that a 



