go ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS.- [March, '03 



cinereus, Cybister fimbriolatus, Adalia frigida var. parvula Weise, J\fy- 

 sia pul/ata, Podabrus diadema, Ludius abruptus, Buprestis lineafa, 

 Geotrupes blackburnii, Hoplia sp. indet. , Diplotaxis tristis, Polyphylla 

 variolosa, Calloidfs nobilis, Clytanthus rurico/a, Acanthoderes deci- 

 piens, Tetraopes canteriaior, Donacia harrisii, Bassareus foruiosus, 

 Microrhopala xerene, M. porcata, Corphyra elegans. 



Collectors may be interested in the fact that Tetraopes canteriator is 

 fairly abundant hereabouts, though rather local. Adalia frigida, which 

 seems to be a desideratum with many collectors, is also met frequently, 

 but never, in my experience, gregarious like the common Adalia bipunc- 

 tata. There will be prizes offered by the Natural History Museum for 

 other entomological subjects the coming season. FREDERICK KNAB. 



TROPICAL BUTTERFLIES. Judging from Mr. \V. D. Denton's criticism 

 (in Dec. NEWS) on "Cheap Tropical American Butterflies" which ap- 

 peared in the October NEWS, it seems that he failed to grasp the purport 

 of my article. I merely endeavored to show that certain species which 

 inhabit "clearings" are always sold at low prices because said species 

 are most readily taken by the average collector and are, for some nine 

 months of the year, quite abundant. I do not doubt Mr. Denton's state- 

 ment that butterflies are, as a general thing, scarce in Colombia ; and 

 while Bates found the Amazon River a rather " dry proposition," we see 

 no reason for discrediting the statement that some thirty species of 

 Papilio inhabit the back yards of the houses in northeastern Brazil. 



Very naturally a collector may find two "flies" in a New England 

 pasture, as a general thing, to every one in a virgin tropical forest or in a 

 tropical desert or even coast plain. But that is not the question at all. 

 I said that it is " a wonder that the cheap species are not cheaper," and 

 will stand by that statement. 



The dealer is not to be blamed for his " bull " policy ; he must hold up 

 the price of Anartias, Pierids, etc., for the "looks of it," because the 

 average amateur might not understand why one species should be listed 

 at two cents while a less "showy" one wa; held at half a dollar. In- 

 deed, some say it is better to destroy the very cheap "flies" than to 

 " demoralize " the price-list by offering them at their intrinsic value. 



Mr. Denton adds that in the Tropics "one seldom sees ragged, worn- 

 out specimens." From my own three years' experience and from that 

 of the seven field collectors whose catches I marketed, I calculated that 

 25 % of the netted material were good, 50 '/, were passable, and 25 ' ' r 

 were "dangerous to handle" even if thrown in gratis; this, of course, 

 does not take account of the swarms of tattered and faded specimens 

 upon which the experienced netter never wastes a "strike." And the 

 perfect specimen suitable for a " Denton Mount " in a museum " show " 

 cabinet is fully as rare in the Tropics as in the North. O. W. BARRETT, 

 Mayaguez, Porto Rico. 



