32 PEOCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Perdita punctifera n. sp. 



Female. Runs in my table in Proc. Phila. Acad., 1896, to P. mentzelice 

 Ckll., to which it is nearly related, differing by the white lateral face marks 

 being longer, and sharply pointed above, though notched on inner side 

 (they are like those of P. pallidior Ckll.); the clypeus with a small white 

 spot, more or less distinctly triangular, on its upper margin; the light color 

 of the antennae creamy-white instead of yellow. From P. pallidior it is 

 easily known by the heavily banded abdomen and largely darkened legs, 

 both characters being as in mentzelice. 



Type: Cat. No. 16844, U. S. N. M. Three specimens collected 

 on August 27. 



Certainly this insect is very close to P. mentzelice, and from its 

 combination of characters one might suppose it to be a hybrid, 

 mentzelice X pallidior, were those species present. Further in- 

 vestigation of the series of species to which this belongs will, I 

 believe, elicit some facts of great interest. The differential char- 

 acters may behave in a Mendelian manner in hybrids, and some of 

 the apparently distinct species may represent the results of earlier 

 crosses. 



The Thurberia bees certainly do not show any great degree of 

 modification or specialization. The impression gained is that 

 Thurberia may have entered the region within comparatively 

 recent times, its bee-fauna being apparently in the earliest stages 

 of differentiation. It is singular that we do not find the bees 

 which habitually occur on other Malvaceae in the southwest. 



-In connection with the papers on the Thurberia weevil Mr. 

 Barber spoke of two of his breeding experiments and has fur- 

 nished the following abstract of his remarks. 



ON INTERSPECIFIC MATING IN PHENGODES AND 



INBREEDING IN EROS. 



(COLEOPTERA.) 



BY HERBERT S. BARBER, Bureau of Entomology. 



The results of an experiment started in 1912 show some contrast 

 to the results of Messrs. Goad and Pierce in interbreeding the Thur- 

 beria and Cotton Boll Weevils, but the writer does not believe 

 that the mere interbreeding of forms proves their specific identity. 

 A few females of a species of Phengodes were received through Mr. 

 Charles Schaeffer from Long Island, and there being no males of the 

 same species at hand were confined with males of our local species 

 P. laticollis. The two species appear to live in different types of 



