326 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [July, 'l4 



be a good place to keep such a series of envelopes. Living entomol- 

 ogists might be asked to give lists of the places where they have 

 collected. For most it would be no great trouble. I have in MS. a 

 list of the new species described from my collections, with localities. 

 Much information which does not require publishing might usefully 

 be filed somewhere, where it could be got at when needed. The Uni- 

 versity of Colorado librarian has just published a complete list of 

 writings of the U. of C. faculty from the beginning of the university 

 to the middle of last year. THEO. D. A. COCKERELI,. 



Notes on Lycaena xerces, antiacis and polyphemus. (Lep.). 



Mr. J. C. Huguenin, of San Francisco, has lately sent me a nice 

 series of freshly caught specimens of Lycaena xerces and polyphemus, 

 and in addition there are a number of specimens in the collection of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, making in all forty 

 specimens studied. In my opinion xerces and polyphemus represent 

 but one species, xerces being the same as polyphemus with the black 

 pupil of the white spots on the under sides of the wings absent. I 

 have been unable to find any other difference. 



Mr. Huguenin says the species has been abundant this year and 

 on the second of April he took a large number of them. They were 

 taken in the western district of the Twin Peaks, San Francisco, Cali- 

 fornia. He remarks that they were caught in a very limited area, not 

 more than two hundred square feet, and were flying in every direction 

 among the big blue Lupinus. "Antiacis and xerces always fly together, 

 and I am coming back to my old belief that they are only one species. 

 For the last twenty-five years I always caught more antiacis than 

 xerces, one-third xerces to two-thirds antiacis, but this year it is just 

 the reverse, more xerces than antiacis" Mr. F. X. Williams, ENT. 

 NEWS, xix, 476, 1908, also expresses his belief that the two are identical. 



I prefer the name polyphemus as the specimens agree perfectly with 

 Mr. Oberthiir's figure of the type of polyphemus in Lep. Comparee, 

 Fasc. 9, pi. 239, f. 2072. The species would stand as Lycaena xerces, 

 Bd. Ann. Ent. Soc. France (2), 10, 296, 1852, with polyphemus, Bd. 

 Ann. Ent. Soc. Belg., p. 48, 1869, as a variety. If antiacis and poly- 

 phemus prove to be the same thing, antiacis would have priority and 

 Stand as a variety of xerces. 



It is possible that the difference in temperature to which the chrysa- 

 lids are individually exposed during the winter in the mountains may 

 cause the presence or absence of the black dot (pupil). Heat and 

 cold will produce this effect on chrysalids in confinement as proven by 

 Standfuss in experiments on Vanessa antiopa and io. Antiopa loses its 

 blue spots and io its eye-spot (ocellus). HENRY SKINNER. 



