60 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



265. E. pestula, ?>m\\.\-\. — (Can. Ent., XXXVL, 150, June, 1904.) 

 Described from twenty Calgary specimens. July, Aug. and early Sept. 

 Of these, 4 S 6 and 8 ? $ are in my collection, all bearing Prof. Smith's 

 own labels, i $ and 4 ? $ being labelled "co-type." Prof. Smith says in 

 the description, " The relationship is to messoria, because of the obvious 

 median line ; but also to tessellata because the space between the ordinary 

 spots is darkened. It is one of the group co\\\.^\x\mgi7icubita, terrenus and 

 pleuritica, differing from each as much as they do from each other." My 

 remarks under ohjurgata, focifius SiV\d nordica should be here referred to. 

 They comprise a " bunch " containing from seventy to eighty specimens 

 at present in my collection, and, I fancy, over thirty more in that of Prof. 

 Smith, which, though I have studied them through eleven seasons, have 

 always been, and are still, a p.erfect puzzle to me, and certainly have been 

 in the past to Prof. Smith also. It is with profuse apologies to him that 

 I feel bound to state in explanation that I have no less than ten so-called 

 specific names which he has either directly given to or suggested for different 

 specimens of the group. I do not include servitus (vide infra), which I 

 feel sure was a slip, nor tessellata, which I have more than once placed in 

 the true noi'dica part of the group myself, but for which he was in no way 

 responsible. I am quite unable to separate some of the specimens bear- 

 ing his label, including co-types, of pestula from focmus and objurgata 

 labelled by him. If there is any distinction, I can only recognize it 

 between these and nordica by the existence in the latter of black mark- 

 ings. All three of the newer names (/. e., except objurgata, one specimen 

 of which I believe is a unique, as far as my collection is concerned) refer 

 to enormously variable forms (?), SiXid pestula Awd/ocinus can hardly even 

 refer to varieties for that reason. Prof. Smith has, at different times, seen 

 every one of the specimens I have referred to, except a few taken during 

 1904, and recently he saw over seventy of them all at once, so he should 

 understand at least as much about them as I do, and it is not for me to 

 sink any of the names. The group used to be fairly common, and eight 

 or nine years ago I must have sent out some numbers, but of late years 

 they have been so rare that I have never cared to risk spoiling $ 9 on 

 the chance of getting eggs. The type of pestula is in Prof. Smith's 

 collection. 



266. E. basalis, Grt. — Common. July and Aug. 



(To be continued.) 



