April, '08] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. l6l 



the latter sex were obtained. A short extract from a letter 

 from Mr. Field relative to this trip will be of interest in this 

 connection. He writes : 



"We started (from San Diego) June 29, and a hot spell 

 started the same day we did. The first week was withering, 

 blistering hot and, as we drifted along the Mexican border 

 in the semi desert country, Hell could not have been more than 

 a half mile off, and it wouldn't have surprised me at all to 

 see old Mr. Devil sitting under a sage brush or greasewood. 

 I cut out the Devil's canyon trip on account of the intense heat, 

 and as it was impossible to take the horses any nearer than 

 Mountain Springs, we actually could not have carried water 

 enough to quench our thirst until we got back. I was obliged 

 to make a long hot drive to reach the Thyce tree, but made 

 it, and while supper was cooking I placed the cyanide bot- 

 tles and nets by the tree to be prepared for an emergency 

 call, but the infernal rascals did not come out till it was all 

 but dark, and then they did come with a rush as they did 

 before. There were not nearly so many out, but after the 

 battle we counted thirteen slain." 



Mr. Field narrates further adventures with the new Thyce 

 but this is sufficient to indicate some of the conditions inci- 

 dent to their capture. 



Polyphylla fuscula n. sp. 



Most nearly allied to diffracta Csy., but smaller and conspicuously 

 darker owing to the sparse vestiture and subobsolete elytral vittre. 

 Head and entire disk of thorax clothed with erect hairs, these becom- 

 ing sparser and shorter toward the sides of the latter ; thoracic vittae 

 narrow and imperfect, the scaly vestiture pale yellowish in color 

 throughout, not at all paler in the feebly condensed lines which rep- 

 resent the more or less strongly marked white vittre of the related spe- 

 cies. Antennal club about three-fourths longer than the stem. Pygid- 

 ium squamulo-pubescent, the hairs and squamttlcs not very densely 

 placed, and both nearly evenly distributed over the entire surface, 

 the lateral and apical margins only slightly reflcxcd. Front tibia: bi- 

 dcntate ($). Length 19-20 mm. 



Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. 



Described from three males collected by Mr. V. W. Owen, 



