Sept., '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 253 



described North American Colletes by its large size, lack of 

 ochraceous or fulvous tinge on the dorsal pubescence, and dull 

 closely and coarsely punctured abdomen. Its nearest ally 

 seems to be C. gilensis Ckll., from which it differs in numerous 

 respects, among them, Mr. Cockerell informs me, in its palpi. 

 The S of robustus is evidently quite close to C. robertsonii 

 D. T. {^= punctata Robt.), which is also a Petalostemoti visiior, 

 but the abdomen is not shining, nor the whole of the legs 

 ferruginous. 



"On June 14th wrote me an apology for not having 



returned me some insects as per promise, being very busy at the 

 office and head over heels in work in the ' bug room,' and said, ' I am 

 also breeding a few things, and they are hatching on me all the time.' I 

 replied, expressing my sympathy, and told him I had experienced the 

 same discomfort during the '60s down in ' Old Virginny,' and that I had 

 found the best thing to do was to rub the seams of my clothes with blue 

 ointment until I could get a chance to boil them." 



A FEW miles below the city of Cincinnati, on the Ohio side, the hills 

 rise abruptly to about 450 feet above the Ohio River and enclose the 

 narrow valley of Elkhorn Creek. The slope of these hills is toward the 

 south, and the valley is never exposed to the north winds. Its wild 

 flowers surprise us with their blossoms in February and March, and all 

 of its spring vegetation is nearly three weeks in advance of our season. 

 There is not a sunny day in winter that does not warm up the slopes 

 enough to call forth the grasshoppers and flies. 



This place is of very great interest to the entomologist, for it produces 

 species reported thus far only from the far south. The praying Mantis, 

 Phasmoviantis Carolina, is found here in abundance. On June 7th of this 

 year I took a fine pair of Polygrammodes hirtalis Gn., heretofore reportd 

 from Texas and Mexico. I have also taken here Sciagraphia punctolin- 

 eata Pack., Goniacidalia furciferata Pack., and Tricotaphe nonstrigella 

 Cham., and a number of species of Tortricids and Tineans not in the col- 

 lections of eastern specialists and unknown to them. Many of the species 

 collected here are found nowhere else around the city, and it appears 

 from each collecting trip that there will be no end of surprises. I know 

 a number of these species breed here, and it is difficult to suppose that 

 any of the others fly from farther south across a river that is more than 

 looo feet wide at this point. The spot, like an oasis in a desert, has a 

 fauna all its own, probably an enduring one, for its inaccessible nature 

 renders it of no interest except to the enthusiastic botanist and entomolo- 

 gist. — Annette F. Braun, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



