50 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



224. C. inconcinna, Harv. — June. Have no July specimens, but it 

 seems quite fresh up to the end of June. 



The above four species, though scarcely to be met with at all some 

 years, are decidedly common in others, attxiliaris being about the least 

 common of the four. They come to both light and treacle, and may be 

 found commonly in the daytime under loose boards and in similar situa- 

 tions. My material . representing the group consists of about 150 

 specimens, the sexes being pretty evenly divided. I have always had 

 some difficulty in separating the first two and the last two species, a 

 difficulty in which I apparently do not stand alone. For instance. Sir 

 Geo. Hampson, in his Catalogue, treats intro/crcfis ^s a var. oi auxi/inris, 

 and, incidentally, he places soror in the same position. \W'\i\\ Prof. Smith's 

 aid, however, who kindly sent nie a named pair of each of the four froni 

 other localities, with explanatory notes on their distinctive features, I 

 think, 1 have my series of auxiliaris and introferens satisfactorily placed, 

 though I still fail to be able to draw any line between agrcstis and 

 incOHcinnn. Touching the first two, he says: "They are not really 

 difficult with a good series of each, provided you first separate the sexes, 

 for, curiously enough, the $ 9 of one species tend to resemble the $ $ 

 of the other. The ^ $ tend to a reddish shade and sharp markings ; the 

 9 9 to gray and obscurer types. Auxiliaris c? has a clear bright costal 

 region ; in the $ it tends to become concolorous, like the ^^ of intro- 

 ferens.'^ Taken as a whole, auxiliaris seems to have the markings more 

 clearly defined, show greater colour contrasts, and have a very conspicu- 

 ously pale costa and collar. Introferetts appears more sordid, browner, 

 and has a much less contrasting costa, otherwise the maculation seems 

 practically the same in the two species. Bat I have an almost intermedi- 

 ate series, though certainly leaning nearer to introferens., in which the 

 colours are often rather bright and collar and costa suspiciously pale. 

 T^^o c? r? of this series have, however, been labelled " ifiiroferens, very 

 like the average Colorado specimens." I am not aware that either species 

 has ever been carefully bred. "''Agrestis and inconcinna,'' writes Prof. 

 Smith, " are much less satisfactorily separated, and some examples seem 

 as well placed with one as with the other name. They will never be really 

 defined until a batch of eggs from a known 9, has been bred to maturity." 

 I have tried boxing 9 9 1 but failed to induce them to lay. I see the 

 larva of agresiis has been described by Dr. Dyar, and the description is 



