188 Journal New York Entomological Society. tVoi. xxv. 



along every creek and river, the very attractive red-bud (Ccrcis cana- 

 densis) brought into relief by the pale blossoms of plum and cherry. 

 Later we rode through fields of Lupines, the justly celebrated Texas 

 blue bonnet, carpeting the earth with its exquisite turquoise-like blos- 

 soms. These lupine fields were in Central Texas, and here spring 

 was almost past, and I was not surprised when I reached San Benito 

 to find that it was really summer there, and that the willows were 

 filling the air with their small cotton covered seeds. I was only in 

 San Benito three days, but during that time, thanks to Miss Mary 

 Cowgill and her skillful driving, I saw several hundred miles of the 

 surrounding "bush." We visited Point Isabel, Brownsville, and even 

 drove across the international bridge into Matamoras, Mexico. 



The "bush" about San Benito is typically desert. A characteristic 

 form, called by the Mexicans crown of thorns (Kocberlinia) was 

 covered with creamy white, star-like blossoms, very sweet scented 

 and swarming with bees. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to 

 secure any of these bees, for the thorns made the use of a net im- 

 possible, and the bees were mostly too alert to be captured by hand. 

 A common tree was called retama (Parkinsonia aciileata) and with 

 its narrow leaflets and asymmetrical yellow and red blossoms looked 

 very like some of the Japanese acacias, now so much esteemed by 

 California gardeners. Many of the species in the " bush " had gray 

 leaves with surprisingly large flowers. Tillandsia grew on the bush 

 everywhere, and it all reminded me of Gualan, Guatemala, not even 

 lacking the large black carpenter bees which I saw for the first time 

 in Gualan. This "bush" seems to be the frontier of the tropics, and 

 I was glad to find that my small collection of bees confirmed my gen- 

 eral impression, the species of bees showing a curious mixture of 

 northern and tropical forms. 



The argemones, Oenotheras, and opuntias were of especial interest. 

 A beautiful white species of Argcmonc {A. pinnatifida) with rosy 

 stamens had a most interesting variety, the petals pale pink, varying 

 to a deep rosy purple. Only a few of these occur — in one field there 

 were a thousand or more plants with white flowers, and only two with 

 pink blossoms. In another place along the bank of an irregular ditch 

 almost half of the plants bore rosy blossoms. Greene regarded this 

 form as a different species from the white one, but when they are 

 studied in the open there is no question but that the rosy form repre- 



