August, igoo.] 



PSYCHE. 



89 



ties and were observed f)vipositiii;jj in 

 these fields September first. 



CoLi.iN'us Sehies. 



il/. mi)!or SciuUler. — Exceptions to 

 description ot Scudder : — prosteinal 

 spine strongly oppressed (Scndder says 

 "More or less") and Rtrongl\' inclined 

 caudad, head not very prominent, meta- 

 zonn very sligiitly expanded if at all ; 

 specimen had hind tibiae of pale glan- 

 coiis color. Of supra-anal plate Scndder 

 says, ''triangular with acute-angulate 

 apex, nearly flat, with narrowly mod- 

 erately deep median sulcus between 

 rather prominent ridges which are con- 

 fluent apicalh', and terminate a little 

 liehind the middle of the plate." The 

 specimen in hand woidd be perhaps 

 better described as spherico-triangidar 

 and slightl)' elevated in the region of 

 the median sulcus. In other respects 

 conforming to tlie description. 



One male, Ford county. Now first 

 reported from Kansas. 



RoBUSTUs Series. 



]\I. differentialis Uhlcr. — Frontal 

 costa generall}- equal, but rather fre- 

 quently, slightly expanded at the ocel- 

 lus, angle of hind margin of metazona 

 decidedly more obtuse in the male. 

 All the transverse sulci of the pronotum 

 are deeply marked with fuscous on 

 lateral lobes especially the middle sul- 

 cus. In the insects of this species in 

 which the ground color is light or 

 "3'ellowish testaceous" there is a 



strong tendency to marbling ol' the 

 face and pronotum, with darker testa- 

 ceous which is frequently localized in 

 three quarters : first, as two dixerging 

 stripes upon the vertex, second as irreg- 

 ular clouds upon the face, third as spots 

 principally on the disk of the pronotimi 

 whose outlines follow but do not coin- 

 cide with those of the blackish fuscous 

 of the sulci. 



This is the most cnuunou native 

 species in Kansas and at times occurs 

 locally in such nimibers as to cause 

 consitjerable damage. It is quite par- 

 tial to alfalfa and by reason of this early 

 food plant it thrives in undue numliers 

 in the vicinity of such fields. It occurs 

 throughout the State wherevei' culti- 

 vated land is to be found. In the high 

 plains of western Kansas it may be 

 found in the vicinity of plowed lands 

 or weeds growing upon the same, but 

 never appears to venture far out on the 

 plains away from tliis class of food. 

 The black variety is not uncommon. 

 Bnmer speaks of this species as inhab- 

 iting low and moist places. Thongli 

 locall}' destructive in the Arkansas 

 vallev \\c have observed it as equalh' 

 active and numerous upon the high 

 plains. 



Bn'iTATTU.s Series. 



J/, bivitattiis Say. — This species 

 occitrs under the same conditions as 

 M. differentialis but not in such 

 great lumibers. It matures about the 

 middle c;f June in Edwards aiul Ford 

 counties nearly two weeks before M. 



