10 THE FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST 
slender than in EL. tritici.” 
Later Hood raised Morgan’s variety to specific rank and trans- 
ferred it with tritici and other species of Huthrips to Karny’s 
genus Frankliniella, naming our insect Frankliniella bispinosa 
(Morgan), and this is the name that has been used by the writer 
until more data could be collected. 
As bearing upon the subject of the specific rank of bispinosa 
two questions needed investigation. Are there transition forms 
between bispinosa and tritici, and do the two forms overlap in 
distribution? Not until recently were we able to gather evidence 
bearing upon these questions. Specimens sent in from Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Atlanta, Ga., always proved to 
be typical tritici and all specimens from Florida typical bispi- 
nosa. During the last few months, however, we have examined a 
large series from Escambia County in extreme west Florida and 
from several points in extreme southern Alabama, Mississippi, 
and Georgia. 
An examination of some hundreds of specimens of both forms 
shows that the color differences as described by Morgan are 
valueless. There are no constant color differences. Apparently 
Morgan’s description was from alcoholic specimens from which 
the orange color had faded. Bispinosa has fully as much orange 
as tritici, perhaps more. The dark spot on the tip of the abdomen 
is a variable character present in many specimens of bispinosa 
and absolutely worthless as a distinguishing mark. There re- 
mains only the comparative lengths of the third and fourth an- 
tennal segments and the dorsal elevation and the two heavy 
spines of the second antennal segment. In typical tricit: there is 
no such elevation. The segment is symmetrical in side view. Also 
the two spines on the dorsal surface are no heavier than those on 
segment 3. In both these characters some specimens from ex- 
treme western Florida and Gulfport, Miss., are intermediate. 
Some of these cannot with certainty be placed with either form. 
Some have the second antennal segment of bispinosa but the 
short third and fourth segments of tritici. The lengths of seg- 
ments 3 and 4 are more variable than the two heavy spines of 
segment 2. These spines form the most constant distinguishing 
mark between the two forms. ; 
Since the only characters of any value are those of the three 
antennal segments and these intermediate in many specimens it 
would seem that bispinosa hardly deserves specific rank as given 
al] 
Th 
| 
brown spines.” (3) “Segments 3 and 4 relatively much more } 
gh 
Cees aoe Oe PE ee: 
