8o ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Feb., 'll 



"Gomphoides ambigua has been reported hitherto only from 

 Mexico and Guatemala and is thus new to the United States. 

 It seems strange that it should have been taken in North 

 Carolina." 



When recently examining the collection of Odonata in the 

 museum of the Staten Island Association of Arts and 

 Sciences, Mr. Charles Schaeffer was inclined to question the 

 identification, basing his opinion on two Mexican specimens 

 in the Brooklyn museum, which had been determined by Pro- 

 fessor Philip P. Calvert, and which differed from the Wil- 

 mington insect. I thereupon sent the latter to Professor Cal- 

 vert, who courteously replied at length, giving the results of 

 his examination. The letter is of such interest that it is 

 quoted in detail : 



"The dragonfly from Wilmington, N. C, which you sent 

 me for determination falls under Gomphoides ambigua Selys, 

 by my key to the Mexican, Central American and West In- 

 dian species of this genus in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, 

 volume Neuroptera. A comparison with specimens shows, 

 however, that the Wilmington example, while possessing the 

 very distinct median notch in the posterior dorsal margin of 

 the last abdominal segment of ambigua, differs from ambigua 

 and agrees with producta Selys of the West Indies in having 

 the somewhat dilated lateral margin of the Qth segment 

 (viewed laterally in profile) convex throughout, instead of 

 being convex in its anterior half and concave in its posterior 

 half. The sheath of the penis of the Wilmington male is pro- 

 jecting, viewed laterally, as^it is in producta but not in am- 

 bigua. There is also a slight difference in the shape of the 

 hind dorsal margin of the loth segment ******_ The lab- 

 rum, being chiefly pale green with only a narrow brown bor- 

 der on its free edge, is different from that of either ambigua 

 or producta. 



"Producta being the West Indian species, is what one 

 would expect at Wilmington. From the above data your 

 specimen seems to be intermediate between ambigua and 

 producta. It is not outside the range of possibility that the 



