NO. 2 OPINIONS 78 TO 81 7 



16. My letter files also show that in answer to a letter from me dated Oct. 

 23, 1909, asking where the types of D. parumaperttis marginatus and D. nigro- 

 luicatus were deposited, Mr. Banks replied (in an undated letter) that the type 

 of D. p. marginatus was in his private collection, " the type of Derm, vennstus 

 in Bur[eau] Entom[ology] Collection]," that of D. nigrolineatus in the Mus. 

 Comp. Zool., Harvard, " cotypes or paratypes of D. nitens in Marx Coll., 

 U. S. N. Mus." and of " D. parumapcrtus and D. occidenfalis, also Marx coll., 

 at least paratypes." It will be observed that this statement (namely, that the 

 type of D. vcnustits is in the collection of the Bureau of Entomology [no men- 

 tion of Marx collection]) is in harmony with Mr. Banks' statement of April 29, 

 1920. The Marx collection has at no time been the property of the Bureau of 

 Entomology. 



17. On Dec. 6, 1920, in the presence of Prof. H. E. Ewing, of the Bureau 

 of Entomology, I examined three bottles of ticks at tlie U. S. National Museum, 

 as follows: Marx 121 and 122 (see supra). Also a bottle containing the 

 label " No. 10. Dermacciitor vcntistus Marx Idaho Coll. Marx." This bottle 

 also contains a paper with the word " type " written in a handwriting identi- 

 fied by Professor Ewing as that of Banks. The Marx label is in a different 

 handwriting from that of Marx 121 and 122. This Marx 10 is not Marx 120. 



18. Here is, accordingly, a bottle attributed to the Marx Collection which I 

 had never seen prior to Dec. 6, 1920. It contains no label written cither by 

 Marx, by Neumann, or by E. A. Schwartz (who went over the Marx collec- 

 tion after Marx's death). Schwartz identifies the Marx label as probably 

 written by C. V. Piper. That this specimen is not available as type specimen 

 of D. vcnustus Marx in Neumann follows from the fact that Neumann (1897a) 

 did not refer to any specimens from Idaho. 



19. The fact that Banks twice states that the type of D. 7'cmislus is in the 

 Bureau of Entomology Collection while the specimen with the label " No. 10, 

 Coll. Marx," contains a slip of paper bearing the word " ty])c " in Banks' hand- 

 writing is not, therefore, of special importance so far as the date 1897 is con- 

 cerned, but comes into considtration in connection with the date 1908. 



20. Banks (1908, 46-47, 55, pi. 8, figs. 4, 5, 7) described Dcrmacentor vcnustus 

 n. sp. Banks. In addition to the specific description, which is clearly influenced 

 chiefly by material from the Northwest, Banks states : 



" Specimens come from various places in the West ; Olympia, Yakima, 

 Klikitat Valley, and Grand Coulee, Wash.; Fort Collins and Boulder, 

 Colo. ; Pecos and Las Cruces, N. Mex. ; Bozeman, Mont. ; Bridger Basin, 

 Utah; Soldier, Idaho, and Texas (on sheep). 



" This species is quite common in the Northwest. It has been included in 

 D. occidcntalis, by Neumann, but was separated out by Doctor Marx in 

 manuscript under the name I have adopted. It is larger than D. occi- 

 dcntalis, with more red and less white in the coloring, and differs in many 

 minor points of structure, as size of porose areas, size of hind coxae in 

 male, etc. This is the species supposed to be concerned in the transmis- 

 sion of spotted fever in Montana." 



21. It will be noticed that Banks cites specimens from " Pecos and Las 

 Cruces, N. M." and "Texas (on sheep)" and that he says it was separated 

 out from D. occidcntalis "by Doctor Marx in manuscript under the name I 

 have adopted." Banks does not cite the museum number of the type specimen. 



