THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 151 



in shades. I should say tliey are unquestionably the same species. Feeling 

 very hazy about the distinctions between itnpressa, emaculata and distansr 

 I submitted two pairs from Calgary to Dr. Dyar a few years ago for his 

 opinion. He replied that none were emaculata^ and returned two as- 

 distans and two as impressa. Those sent as distaiis are the darker, and 

 have distinct submedian dark shading from the base to the anal angle 

 almost unbroken. The others lack this shade almost entirely, and are pale,, 

 like my impressa from the east. These characters are used in separating 

 the imagines in the monograph, and a pair are figured under each name 

 in accordance, distans being shown to have also slightly narrower wings- 

 and more pointed apices. But following up these characters through my 

 series, and using my two labelled pairs as leaders, I entirely failed to 

 divide them into two series, nor could I do so by the help of any other 

 characters, either then or on the many occasions upon which I have made 

 the attempt since, after examining fresh material in the Washington collec- 

 tion, where there is a good series under both names from many localities.. 



At the British Museum in February and March, 1909, I was unable 

 to follow out Sir George Hampson's separation of distans, impressa and 

 emaculata. The types of ijnpressa d.nd /asciata Walker, from '• Hudson's 

 Bay," and Grote and Robinson's verri//ii, from Cambridge, Mass., are 

 pale blue-gray, and seemed to be one species, as catalogued. But other 

 specimens associated with them and with distans, seems to me to fit 

 emaculata equally well. 



In the disiafis series I made careful notes on a male and three 

 females, which seemed different from the rest of the group, and from any 

 that I had seen before. Of these, one was the male type from Montreal^ 

 which appeared to be the one figured in plate cxxvi, 21, of the Catalogue. 

 One female was from New York, and labelled '*' brumosa" presumably by 

 Grote. The other two bore no locality labels, but I judge from the 

 Catalogue that they were from the same localities. These four seemed to 

 have creamier ground, and to be browner and more smoky than any of 

 the rest, and to have wider space between the t. p. line and termen, with 

 wider, larger pale spots constituting the s. t. line. These then are all 

 typical distans. I spent a lot of time trying to persuade Sir George that 

 some of the Calgary specimens belonged to these and others did not, 

 though all differed in colour, none being brown or smoky, but rather blue- 

 gray. A male under impressa marked " New York Garrison, Cockerell,"' 

 also seemed to me to be distans. But on my return to Calgary my attempt 



