June-Sept., 1919.] TlMBERLAKE : HlPPODAMIA. 173 



tion and somewhat smaller size, were rather like typical 5-signata. 

 The single specimen taken in 1914, however, verged toward the sub- 

 species caseyi of Washington. Uteana also ranges westward to the 

 mountains of California, as the form figured by Essig in his In- 

 jurious and Beneficial Insects of California, under the name of 

 Iccontci, seems to belong here. 



As we proceed westward we find the forms of 5-signata char- 

 acterized by a gradual obliteration of the elytral markings, until on 

 the Pacific Coast we encounter the spotless subspecies, ambigua and 

 punctulata. In the case of ambigua this condition is coupled with 

 enlargement of the white discal marks on the pronotum, and with the 

 reduction or even the total obliteration of these marks in the case of 

 punctulata. In the interior valleys of Washington, however, we find 

 the small-spotted subspecies, caseyi, in which the spots are arranged 

 much as in convergens. So similar indeed is the arrangement, shape 

 and size of the spots that some specimens cannot be separated from 

 convergens with any degree of certainty, unless the student takes 

 cognizance of the male genitalia. During the summer of 1915 the 

 writer crossed uteana with punctulata and thus produced a form 

 similar to caseyi, but with the elytral spots still further reduced or in 

 part absent. The scutellar and postscutellar spots proved to be the 

 most constant in the hybrid offspring. 



Of caseyi the writer has examined numerous specimens from 

 Pullman, Washington (G. I. Reeves), and Wenatchee, Washington 

 (E. J. Newcomer). This form, as mentioned above, might easily 

 pass for convergens. Mr. Newcomer found it and convergens about 

 equally abundant at Wenatchee. Ambigua is abundant in parts of 

 Oregon and the writer has seen many specimens from Forest Grove, 

 McMinnville, Wilsonville and Millsboro of that State (Creel and 

 Rockwood), and one specimen from Vancouver, Washington (G. I. 

 Reeves), which belongs here rather than with caseyi. Punctulata 

 is extremely common in the lowlands of California and the writer 

 has examined large series from Berkeley, Milbrae, Sacramento, Pasa- 

 dena, Whittier, San Diego, etc. (P. H. Timberlake). It has been 

 called ambigua universally in recent years, although the true ambigua 

 is the subspecies later redescribed by Casey under the name of obliqua, 

 of which pollitissima seems to be either a synonym or a minor 

 variation. 



