1913.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 429 



this race averages considerably less, while the length of the ovipositor 

 is also less in the majority of cases. 



The small dark form of fasciatus fomid in eastern Ontario and 

 Michigan, of which Walker speaks,^^ is, as he has stated, but a 

 degenerate and does not, as Caudell has supposed,^"^ belong to the 

 present geographic race. From this it may be separated by the 

 general coloration, which although dark, is not as nearly black as in 

 fasciatus abortivus, and the ovipositor which is exactly as in fasciatus. 

 Intermediates between such individuals and fasciatus abortivus will 

 undoubtedly be found frequently in the area of intergradation be- 

 tween fasciatus and the present geographic race. The individuals 

 from Aweme, Man., before us, do not show the characters which 

 define the geographic race as distinctly as do the specimens from the 

 type locality, all of the other specimens here treated are typical. 



Color Notes. — The males of the present geographic race appear to 

 be shiny black to the naked eye, but under a Zeiss binocular are 

 found to lie shiny dark clove brown in general coloration. The 

 maxillary palpi are darker than in typical fasciatus. The yellow 

 line of the discoidal vein of the males is extremely narrow, and the 

 yellowish markings of the postocular portion of the genae and 

 ventral margin of the lateral lobes are absent or very greatly reduced 

 and obscured in both sexes. The tegmina of the females have the 

 dorsal field sepia in general color with the longitudinal veins tinged 

 with tawny and the median vein distinctly outlined in clove brown, 

 which is also the color of the entire lateral field with the exception 

 of the intermediate channel which is of the same color as the dorsal 

 field. Several of the females of fasciatus abortivus before us have a 

 general coloration which is somewhat less dark, and in these specimens 

 the dorsal surface of the insect approaches sepia with a faint tawny 

 cast and in one or two individuals the pale stripes of the occiput are 

 faintly indicated. 



Distribution. — This geographic race is found over the prairie region 

 of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in the Dominion of Canada, 

 and in the adjacent portions of the United States. It has also been 

 taken as far east as Fort William, in extreme western Ontario. 



Biological Notes. — Caudell has found this race plentiful in the grass 

 along the borders of a draw on the prairie at IMoose Jaw, Sask., 

 while Walker states that it is common everywhere on the 

 prairies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The latter author 



39 Can. Ent., XXXVI, p. 184. 

 " Can. Ent., XXXVI, p. 248. 



