April, '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. II9 



clypeus in the female is slightly longer than the third segment 

 of the antennal filament. In C. ocailtus the collar, anterior 

 part of the mesonotum and the mesopleura are coarsely punc- 

 tured, the frons is more coarsely punctured than in the other 

 species, the mesopleura are in part coarsely rugose, as is also 

 the dorsum of the median segment, and the clypeus in the 

 female is shorter than the third segment of the antennal fila- 

 ment. 



Examination of a large series of specimens convinces me 

 that these distinctions cannot hold. Nearly all the examples 

 agree in some of the characters named with C. iieartiacs, but in 

 others with C. occultus, and in many cases the division between 

 the two is about equal. Apparently C. nearcticus and C. 

 occultus represent extreme degrees of the variation of a rather 

 variable species, C. nearcticus applying to those forms in which 

 the punctures and rugosity are least developed, and C. occultus 

 to those in which they are most strongly marked. 



Chlorion cerarium Patton (Can. Ent. , XI, p. 133, 1879) is, 

 as Patton himself says (Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., Ill, p. 46, 

 1894), a variety of this insect, having a bronze color. The 

 shade of color seems to be connected with the locality from 

 which the insect comes, specimens from New England and the 

 Middle Atlantic States being bronze-blue, those from the 

 States next south and including Kansas being deep blue, but 

 often with a bronze tinge, those from Missouri, Tennessee 

 and farther south deep blue, while examples from Mexico, 

 Arizona and California show transition shades from deep blue 

 through greenish blue to a bright green. 



It is interesting to note that this insect has been captured in 

 Massachusetts as far north as the southern side of the Holyoke 

 range of mountains which crosses the Connecticut valley in a 

 northeast-southwest direction, though in Amherst, which ex- 

 tends to the top of this range on its northern side, it has never 

 been taken, nor do I find any record of its capture toward the 

 eastern end of the State. 



Arranged in regular form the more important synonomy of 

 this species will stand as follows : 



