[S2 NOTES ON LACHNOSTERNA. 



our species to Dr. Horn. This I did, and the specimens were promptly 

 returned. The most casual glance over the returned material showed 

 that I had tailed to discover the specific characters in tny superficial 

 arrangement of the series, and the material was left intact until the 

 appearance of Dr. Horn's paper. 



When this at last came to hand, it was an easy task with the book! 

 and named specimens to correctly determine all of the unnamed mate- 

 rial. In order to familiarize myself with the characters used, I carefully 

 compared each species with its description, and noted the variations 

 observed. As I found that our material covered a wider territory than 

 that seen by Dr. Horn, 1 added localities and, so far as our specimens 

 showed them, dates of capture as well. Without any definite idea in 

 making these notes, it occurred to me that they might be useful in a list 

 of the species contained in the Museum collection. 



Our material was remarkably rich in specimens and species. My own 

 collection, purchased by the Museum, contained a full representation of 

 forms found around Xew York City, and many lots obtained in Jbulk by 

 exchange from all parts of the country. 



The Riley collection donated to the Museum, was rich in material from 

 Texas and the Mississippi Valley, and especially valuable because much 

 of it was dated, or contained other information on the labels. 



From the Morrison collection, purchased for the Museum, we had long 

 series of several species, principally from Xorth Carolina. Finally, in 

 the Department of Agriculture and Museum collection proper, there 

 were many specimens from all parts of the country sent in by corre- 

 spondents or because of injuries caused by them. 



The fauna of the District of Columbia was not very well represented, 

 and to obtain full series of local species, and to gather information on 

 food habits, dates of appearances, etc., Mr. Schwarz and myself de- 

 termined to make a series of collections and observations — a work which 

 first induced the idea of this paper from the results of our observations ; 

 results not at all anticipated when we started collecting. 



The arrangement of the fusca group, or more correctly the union of 

 forms under the specific term fusca, by Dr. Horn did not strike me as 

 entitled to be called final ; the less so, as Dr. Horn evidently was not 

 <l u ite satisfied himself, and we were in hopes of finding some more sat- 

 isfactory limit for the species. In all these points we were successful, 

 as the following will show. 



I desire here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. E. A. Schwarz 

 for his aid in collecting specimens, for his pertineut suggestions, and 

 lor assistance in the work of ascertaining the range of the species. 

 Messrs. Pergandeand Alwood, of the I >epartment of Agriculture, joined 

 in many of the evening excursions and kindly placed at my disposal 

 all the material obtained by them. Mr. C. H. Roberts, visiting Wash- 

 ington at that time, also joined me in the collections made near my own 

 house, and together we found many species. Mr. Ulke, who, while the 



