THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 161 



entirely piceous black to entirely yellow through all modifications of 

 these colours , the elytra may be vittate, maculate, or unicolorous. A 

 recent study by Dr. George H. Horn gives the first intelligent account of 

 the species as a whole. He mentions six varieties by name separated 

 for convenience by colour characters, though others are not wanting, and 

 : there may possibly be two others entitled as validly to the same rank. It 

 is distributed generally from the Atlantic to the Pacific and far northward. 

 Here the species appears in April on wild plum, and later on pear and 

 apple blossoms where the trees are near a wood or forest. Two 

 varieties occur together at this time, neither of which seems to be as mature 

 as the individuals taken later in the season. One of these is the pale or 

 dusky form of atra, which is assumed to be the entirely black form with 

 a rough uneven thorax, often with some small, smooth facets. This form 

 is taken sparingly by bush beating as late as August ; it is usually coarsely 

 sculptured, and one large example has three evident costal lines on the 

 elytra ; all the spring brood of whatever colour with the uneven rough 

 thorax are referred to this variety. The other is the typical hepatica^ 

 Say, " head black, thorax rufous, elytra brownish." This is as abundant 

 as the brown form of atra, and can best be separated from it by the com- 

 parative evenness and smoothness of the thorax ; later, by beating, an 

 apparently maturer form is taken with the elytra piceous black and the 

 thorax orange-red, named by Newman ruficollis ; without care this form 

 may be readily overlooked in collecting, from its resemblance to Corphyra 

 terminalis with which it frequently occurs. No black example of this 

 variety have been observed. 



Of the van vittata^ Say, few examples have been seen ; the thorax is 

 rougher than in hepatica, but less so than in atra, is shorter than in 

 either, and entirely rufous ; the elytra are piceous with a narrow dorsal 

 stripe, yellow. 



The var. armeniacce, Germ., is not common ; in it the thorax is 

 entirely piceous black, as rough as in atra and more convex, narrower to 

 base and apparently more elongate ; the elytra are narrow, piceous, with 

 a uniform moderately wide dorsal vitta yellow. Length, .26 inch. This 

 is a fine variety ; none of the others mentioned by Dr. Horn have occurred 

 here. 



Of var. childreni many examples have been seen from New Mexico, 

 Colorado and Vancouver Island ; in general it is less coarsely punctured 

 than the fqrms mentioned ; the colour is perhaps more variable, there 



