114 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



July 1 6th, when one of them, a male, reached maturity. At this time I 

 had but one other living nymph, all the others having died, or having been 

 killed by their mates or by ants in the vials with them, previous to the 

 middle of July. This remaining nymph, a female, reached maturity on 

 Aug. 6th, and died Sept. 5th, having lived on a diet of flies for a period of 

 about seven weeks. 



On June 30, 1908, I forwarded to Dr. L. O. Howard, Washington, 

 D. C, a few of the nymphs which had died in confinement, and these 

 were determined by Mr. A. N. Caudell as -O. quadripunctatus, Beutenm. 

 On Sept. 16, I forwarded to Dr. Howard the specimens that had reached 

 maturity, with the request that these be placed in the collections at 

 Washington. In reply, I received a letter from Mr. C. L. Marlatt, Acting 

 Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, in which he stated that the specimens 

 had been referred to Mr. Caudell, who submitted the following report : 



" For some time I have had CEcanthus quadripunctatus, Beutenm., 

 marked in the collection as a variety of nigricornis, Walker, and this 

 rearing by Mr. Houghton proves that it is so. The nymphs sent some 

 time ago, in the early part of July, showed the basal two segments of the 

 antennae each with two spots, as is characteristic of quadripunctatus. The 

 adults now received, which are from the same deposition of eggs, are 

 typically nigricornis. Thus the name quadripunctatus falls as a specific 

 name, though I shall continue its use to indicate the adult forms in which 

 the antennal markings remain separate." 



Of course, it is possible, though hardly probable, that the eggs which 

 I collected on April 12th were laid by two different species ; and some of 

 my nymphs doubtless came from each of the three or four rows of eggs 

 that I had under observation. My own opinion in the matter, however, 

 is that Beutenmuller's quadripunctatus is simply a variety of Walker's 

 nigricornis, as the above breeding experiments would seem to indicate. 

 Additional data to support this theory are to be found in the fact that later 

 in the season (Sept. and Oct., 1908) I found the typical nigricornis and its 

 variety argentinus intimately associated with quadripunctatus in depositing 

 eggs in long rows in young peach trees at Newark, Del., and in captivity 

 a (J quadripunctatus mated with a $ argentinus. 



In confinement the species under observation the past season acted 

 much as did the nymphs of niveus, already reported upon. They fed 

 freely upon various kinds of plant-lice and flies, and occasionally 

 developed cannibalistic tendencies, the larger eating the smaller when two 

 individuals were enclosed in one shell vial. In one instance a nymph 



