474 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



" It appears decidely impossible to separate specifically 

 californica from basalis, which itself is probably only a 

 race of americana. The forms are identical and the 

 colorincr of the wings is the same in the first two of these 

 nominal species. Californica only differs from basalis 



by the absence of the pterostigma and has hitherto 



only been observed in California where it is found at the 

 same time as the type of basalis.'' 



One male from California, also sent by the California 

 Academy, is perhaps to be referred to Walsh's texana 

 with which the basalis of Hagen's Synopsis of 1861, p. 

 60, is said to be identical. A male from Denver, Colorado, 

 by Mr. E. V. Beales, in the writers's collection has the 

 abd. 34.5, h. w. 24, and a very small pterostigma — smaller 

 than in any eastern or Texan specimens of americana, 

 scelerata, texana, etc.; otherwise very much like califor- 

 nica. Lastly Hagen (1875) cites californica from Mon- 

 tana. 



A number of the species of Hctcerina created by Walsh 

 can not, in the writer's opinion, be maintained as such, as 

 an examination of a considerable series of individuals 

 shows that those characters by which he separated them, 

 viz. : the extent of the basal red spot on the wings and 

 the minute structure of the median internal tooth of the 

 superior appendages of the males — are very variable. 

 H. scelerata Walsh and H. texana Walsh are therefore 

 merely pterostigmatous variations of americana Fabr., as 

 ■pseudamcricana Walsh has long been recognized to be, 

 while californica is the western apterostigmatous form of 

 the same species. 



