312 



PSYCHE. 



(January 1899. 



Trinidad Field Nat. Club, 1894, p. 309. n. 

 syn. Piilvinnria nezvsleadi Leonard!, Riv. 

 Pat. Veget., 1898, p. 7 of separate. 



(3.) Asfidiotits irilobitiformis Green, Ind. 

 Mus. notes, 1S96, p. 3 of separate, n. syn, 

 Asfidiolus darutyi [f^nrwy/^ misprint] d'Em- 

 merez de Charmoy, Revue Agricole, July 30, 

 1S9S, p. 2 of separate. 



Segregates from Perdila. 



I hardly know what to say about Mr. Ash- 

 mead's three new genera, established in 

 Psyche, pp. 2S4-2S5, at the expense of Per- 

 dita. The palpal characters used to separate 

 Cockerellia from Perdita are of no account, 

 because Mr. Ashmead has overlooked the 

 fact that Smith's type of Perdita had lost 

 hot/t fairs of palpi, the palpi in the figures 

 being put in in dotted lines, purely from the 

 imagination! It is quite certain, I think, 

 that no Perdita ever had such labial palpi as 

 Smith figures. Again, Mr. Ashmead says 

 for Cockerellia " abdomen always banded or 

 maculated," which is not usually the case in 

 the males of the species he indicates as the 

 type! The group of Perdita albipennis is a 

 fairlv compact section or perhaps subgenus, 

 to which the name Cockerellia will apply, 

 but I am reluctant to treat it as a genus. 

 Now as to Philoxanthus, the yellow color 

 can hardly be generic, as yellow species 

 occur in at least two distinct groups of Per- 

 dita. The claws are practically the same as 

 in the group of P. albipeiiiiis (/lyaliiia), 

 being in both cases simple. 



Nomadopsis is equally doubtful. There 

 are species showing all sorts of gradations 

 in the length of the marginal cell; "maxil- 

 lary palpi," in the description, should ap- 

 parently be labial palpi. 



A really good subgenus of Perdita for 

 which I will propose the name Perditella, 

 contains P. latieae (type of subgenus), mar- 

 cialis and larrearum. It has the stigma 

 large; the marginal cell greatly reduced, with 

 the substigmatal portion much the longest; 



and the second submarginal very small and 

 triangular. 



I do not say that Perdita should not be 

 divided into two or more genera; probably 

 it will ultimately have to be split into half-a- 

 dozen, but it will be necessary- to proceed 

 with caution. 



T. D. A. Cockercll. 

 Mesiila Park, N. Af., 

 Nov. 5, iSgS. 



CHINA ASTERS INFESTED BY A 

 COCCID. 



Ripersia hisii Ckll. was discovered June, 

 1896, in various ant nests in Massachusetts. 

 Since then much time has been spent in 

 seait\li for its food plant, and without suc- 

 cess until now, Oct. nth, when it was found 

 feeding at the roots of china asters, at- 

 tended by Lasiiis americanus Em. Nearly 

 all of the plants in the bed were found to 

 have a herd of these coccids attached to 

 their roots, and in every instance the ant 

 was present with them. I have thought all 

 along that the Rifersis sp. found in ant 

 nests would turn out to be subterraneous. 

 There was also found on some of the roots 

 of Asters tliree species of Aphids usually 

 found in ant nests in this locality. Aphis 

 maidi-radicis, Schizoneura coriii, and a Pem- 

 phigus sp. Several other plants were exam- 

 ined, but no coccids found to infest them. 

 For the literature treating upon the genus 

 Ripersia found in ant nests in Massachusetts 

 see Canadian Entomologist, 1896, p. 222, 

 same publication 1897, p. 92. Sciefice Gos- 

 sip, vol. 3, Feb., 1897, p. 240, and Entomo- 

 logical News, 1S97, pp. 125-129. 



Geo. B. King- 

 Laxvrence, Mass., Oct. 12, 1S98. 



Change of Address. Baron Osten 

 Sacken requests us to announce that his 

 residence has been changed to S Bunsen 

 Strasse, Heidelberg, Germany. 



