Vol. XXvi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 361 



agrees perfectly with the figure of piasus. Rhaea is the more 

 ordinary form. The description of piasus Boisd., applies best 

 to the species known later as sagittigera Feld. "Fringe whit- 

 ish" applies to the specimen figured as the type by Oberthur, 

 "with numerous black ocellated spots." This applies perfectly 

 to sagittigera but not to the western form of pseudargiolus 

 (argiolus Linn.) "separated by a whitish band." This also 

 applies to sagittigera and not at all to pseudargiolus. The 

 ocellated spots and the whitish band appear to me to be con- 

 clusive and can't possibly apply to pseudargiolus. "A little 

 larger than our argiolus, which it strongly resembles at the first 

 glance." This also applies to sagittigera, as the western argi- 

 olus is about the size of or smaller than the European species. 



The final argument is the fact that Dr. Boisduval knew and 

 fully recognized Lycaena pseudargiolus, as he says "This does 

 not differ from specimens from other parts of the U. S. It 

 flies commonly in thickets in April." It is likely that the 

 species described by Boisduval and sent to him by Lorquin 

 was only represented by meagre material and when he sub- 

 sequently received "rhaea" he redescribed the same species. 

 The descriptions of piasus and rhaea are very similar. Bois- 

 duval says the latter came from "around Los Angeles." 



The weight of evidence seems to be on the side of the 

 piasus description agreeing with the Oberthur figure. Mr. 

 Oberthur will probably be able to shed additional light on the 

 subject. The description of piasus can't possibly apply to 

 the western argiolus. 



The Entomological Society of Ontario. 



The Fifty-second Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in 

 Ottawa on November 4th and 5th, 1915. Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of 

 the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 has kindly consented to give the annual public lecture on Thursday, 

 November 4th. 



A Liquid Preservative for Insects. 



P. Schulze recommends for the preservation of galls, of coccids on 

 plants and of larvae for dissection, especially in the tropics, the follow- 

 ing mixture : 200 cc. glycerine, 200 cc. distilled water, i gram crystal- 

 lized carbolic acid. (Dent. cnt. Zcitschr., 1915,- p. 204.) 



