282 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [November, 



regard to Amblychila piccolominii , Mr. Rivers speaks of " Du- 

 pont's examples." Reiche states that he saw but one specimen, 

 a female. It is probable that the sex was a mere guess, as it is but 

 a few years since the means of sexual distinction was made known. 



After Reiche' s description Lacordaire expressed the opinion 

 that the insect was not specifically distinct from that described by 

 Say (see Mem. Liege, i, p. 95, 1843), an d repeated the same 

 some years later (" Genera," i, p. 8, note, 1854). Mannerheim's 

 reference to the insect carries with it no authority as to locality 

 or specific value, being merely a short description culled from 

 the longer one of Reiche (" Bull. Mosc." 1843, p. 183). 



The first specimen of Amblychila seen by an American student 

 after Say came to LeConte in 1854, and gave the occasion for 

 some remarks, and finding so many gross inaccuracies in the 

 figures of this and some other species figured by that author, he 

 seems to have been left in an uncertain state of mind. 



The next reference to Amblychila is by Thomson in his begin- 

 ning of a monograph of Cicindelidae (Paris, 1857), in which he 

 figures anew the so-called California specimen. That Thomson 

 saw the Reiche type is known to me, and I can assert that no 

 other specimen of Ambychila went to Europe until fully ten years 

 after. At this time I will state that the Reiche type was exam- 

 ined by LeConte and myself. Mr. Rivers seems to think that 

 Thomson was influenced in his opinion " by reading the opinions 

 of our two great Coleopterists." As far as LeConte is concerned, 

 he never expressed an opinion until 1859 (Col. Kansas, etc.), 

 and if I can assume to be the second I must here admit that in 

 1857 I had never seen an Amblychila, much less expressed an 

 opinion. 



In Mr. Rivers' paper he seems willing to admit that his baroni 

 is the male of piccolominii. At the same time he gives a photo- 

 graphic representation of the last-mentioned species. From my 

 memory and a drawing I had specially prepared, the true picco- 

 lominii is still smoother than the one he figures. 



These preliminary remarks are intended as the basis of an an- 

 swer to the question asked by Mr. Rivers. My opinion is that 

 there is but one species of Amblychila. This insect is now known 

 to be distributed over a wide extent of country from Kansas to 

 Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. In that range it meets great 

 variat : ons of climate and undergoes the' same style of variation 



