Vol. XXV] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 415 



14. Argia immunda. 



Texas: Clifton, May 29, 30 and 31, and June i, 61 $ , 5 $ ; 6 $ , 

 i 5 in alcohol, det. Calvert. 



The antenodal cells in hoth front and hind wings were counted for 

 all the papered material with the following result : Front wing, 2 ante- 

 nodal cells, i wing; 2 l / 2 antenodal cells, i wing; 3 antenodal cells, 115 

 wings; 3+ antenodal cells, I wing; 4 antenodal cells, 4 wings; total, 

 122 wings. 



Hind wing, 2 antenodal cells, 5 wings; 2 l / 2 antenodal cells, i wing; 

 3 antenodal cells, 113 wings; 3+ antenodal cells, 2 wings; 4 antenodal 

 cells, i wing; total, 122 wings. 



The 5 $ have 3 antenodal cells in every case. 



15. Argia violacea. 



Texas: Clifton, June i, 2 $ . 



Oklahoma: Wister, June 3 and 4, 3 $ ; i $ in alcohol, det. Calvert. 



(To be continued) 



A Note on the Abundance of the Thistle Butterfly, Pyrameis cardui 



(Lepid.). 



Recently I made a trip to Buttonwillow in the southern part of the 

 San Joaquin Valley, California, to make some investigations concern- 

 ing a band of about 400 head of California elk (Ccrvus nannodes 

 Merriam) that ranges over the 5OO,ooo-acre ranch of Messrs. Miller 

 and Lux, the well-known cattle company. Two days (April 24-25) 

 were spent on the ranch. When hunting for the elk we drove with a 

 team of horses around in various and devious ways, through the im- 

 mense fields of alfalfa, oats, barley and yellow mustard, across irri- 

 gating ditches, and over greasewood plains. The days were bright 

 and sunny, and many things unique and of great interest were noted, 

 but I shall at this time tell of only one of them, namely, the marvelous 

 abundance of a certain species of butterfly, the Thistle Butterfly or 

 Painted Lady, Pyrameis cardui Linnaeus. 



As we drove through the fields of yellow mustard these beautiful 

 butterflies flew up in front and on either side of us literally by the 

 thousands. There must have been millions of them; they were every- 

 where in the fields, and the fields contained hundreds of acres. With 

 a net one could have obtained several in one cast. I never saw any- 

 thing like it, not even among grasshoppers in Kansas in 'hopper years. 



I have understood, of course, that Pyramcis cardui is one of the 

 most widely distributed butterflies, and that, in many places, it is an 

 abundant species, but I never dreamed any butterfly was so marvel- 

 ously abundant anywhere. What a fine field Buttonwillow would be 

 for anyone to visit who cared to study individual variation in this 

 beautiful and interesting species! BARTON W. EVERMANN, California 

 Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 



