ft* Cattailwif Jitttottwlacjbt. 



Vol. XLI. GUELPH, MARCH, 1909. No. 3. 



A VARIETY OF BASILARCHIA ARCHIPPUS. 



P,Y JOHN H. COOK AND FRANK E. WATSON, ALBANY, N. Y. 



Basilarchia archippus, new variety, laiithanis* — Differs from archip- 

 pus proper in that the extramesial black stripe crossing the secondaries is, 

 on the upper surface, subobsolete. 



The type specimen (PI. 5, fig. 2) was taken at Albany, N. Y., in 

 June, 1902. The paratype, illustrated (fig. 1), came from Hudson, N. Y. 

 These butterflies are representative of a series of twelve, eleven of which 

 are still in the possession of the authors. More than a score of others 

 have been seen within the last ten years, and intergrade forms are common. 



While in general opposed to the practice of designating a form as a 

 variety merely because it differs more or less strikingly from an arbitrarily 

 assumed norm, we have considered that in the present instance an excep- 

 tion should be made. The value of a name is measured by its usefulness, 

 and should lanthanis prove to merit the attention of no one but the 

 catalogue-maker, it will be justly ignored. If, however, the loss of the 

 black stripe is a logical step in the evolution of the wing design of archip- 

 pus, whereby its mimicry of Anosia plexippus becomes more complete, 

 the existence of this variety may be a fact of more than ordinary biological 

 interest. 



The problem which the species presents will be discussed in a paper 

 soon to appear in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London, 

 and as a distinctive name for the stripeless variety will facilitate that dis- 

 cussion, it was thought advisable to publish this brief description in advance. 



SOME NEW NORTH AMERICAN JASSID^. 



BY E. D. BALL, LOGAN, UTAH. 



Phlepsius attractus, n. sp. — Resembling floridanas, but with an evenly 

 rounding vertex and a smaller number of spots on the costa. Length, J 

 4.25 mm. 



Vertex twice wider than long, scarcely half the length of the pro- 

 notum, margins parallel, the anterior one rounding evenly to the front 



*\avBkvw . — I escape notice. 



