138 



PS rCHE. 



[November 'S97. 



(6) Trichacis {Platygasier) rem- 

 ulus Walk. $ 9 . 



(7) Polygnotus {Platygastei-) min- 

 iitzis Lind. $ . 



(8) Anaphes pratensis Forst. 9 . 

 (Egg parasite). 



With tliese were also <? 9 specimens 

 of Isosoma brevicorne Walker, which 

 must be a gall-maker on the oats. 



Most of the above parasites were 



bred fiom their host, occurring in oat 

 stubble, collected in 1S94-95, at Poitier 

 and Montreuil. The rearing of Ana- 

 pkes prateitsis Forster, is most inter- 

 esting, since it is without doubt an egg 

 parasite. 



Host. 3. Cecidomyia tritici Kirby. 

 (i) ^lerisiis destructor Say ^ 9 • 



DIPTERA FROM THE WHITE SANDS, ON THE TULAROSA 

 PLAINS OF SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO.— I. 



BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N. MEXICO. 



The Tularosa plains may be roughly 

 described as lying between the Sacra- 

 mento Mts. on the east, and the San 

 Andres Mts. on the west, and stretch- 

 ing from the Organ Mts. north to the 

 vicinity of AVhite Mt. They are some 

 80 miles long, by 30 or 40 wide. 



In the northwestern extent of these 

 plains there reposes a remarkable and 

 extensive surface deposit of disin- 

 tegraded and weathered gypsum, cov- 

 ering an area some 35 or 40 miles long 

 by an average width of 10 miles, and 

 varying in depth from a mere crust to 

 ridges piled up 30 ft. above the level of 

 the surrounding plain. This immense 

 deposit is known as the White Sands. 

 The gypsum is pure, without grit, and 

 nearly white, and the banks of it appear 

 from a little distance almost like banks 

 of snow shining in the sun. From the 

 road going up into the Sacramento 

 Mts., in the Rio Tularosa canon, a 



splendid view of this gypsum area is 

 obtainable. A view is had at a point 

 some 1200 ft. above the plain, and 

 although the spectator is then distant 

 at least 30 miles, tiie effect is striking 

 in the extreme. The vast stretch of 

 sands lies spread out upon the plain in 

 a panorama of billows, and it is hard to 

 resist the impression that one is looking 

 upon a distant arm of the sea, where a 

 high surf is rolling up upon the sandy 

 beach. The San Andres range, lying 

 close by the western edge of the Sands, 

 enhances the effect, and appears like a 

 rocky promontory washed by the waves. 

 When one comes to walk over the 

 Sands, he finds that the immense 

 (.roughs and billows ai'e real, and the 

 gypsum is seen to assume all the un- 

 dulations and forms that the winds of 

 the plains are capable of producing. 



These Sands are scatteringly covered 

 with a considerable vegetation through- 



