80 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [abet ues 
“Gomphoides ambigua has been reported hitherto only from 
Mexico and Guatemala and is thus new to the United States. 
It seems strange that it should have been taken in North 
Carolina.” 
When recently examining the collection of Odonata in the 
museum of the Staten Island Association of Arts and 
Sciences, Mr. Charles Schaeffer was inclined to question the 
identification, basing his opinion on two Mexican specimens 
in the Brooklyn museum, which had been determined by Pro- 
fessor Philip P. Calvert, and which differed from the Wil- 
mington insect. I thereupon sent the latter to Professor Cal- 
vert, who courteously replied at length, giving the results of 
his examination. The letter is of such interest that it is 
quoted in detail: 
“The dragonfly from Wilmington, N. C., which you sent 
me for determination falls under Gomphoides ambigua Selys, 
by my key to the Mexican, Central American and West In- 
dian species of this genus in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, 
volume Neuroptera. A comparison with specimens shows, 
however, that the Wilmington example, while possessing the 
very distinct median notch in the posterior dorsal margin of 
the last abdominal segment of ambigua, differs from ambigua 
and agrees with producta Selys of the West Indies in having 
the somewhat dilated lateral margin of the oth segment 
(viewed laterally in profile) convex throughout, instead of 
being convex in its anterior half and concave in its posterior 
half. The sheath of the penis of the Wilmington male is pro- 
jecting, viewed laterally, as it is in producta but not in am- 
bigua. There is also a slight ditference in the shape of the 
hind dorsal margin of the toth segment * * * * * *. The lab- 
rum, being chiefly pale green with only a narrow brown bor- 
der on its free edge, is different from that of either ambigua 
or producta. 
“Producta being the West Indian species, is what one 
would expect at Wilmington. From the above data your 
specimen seems to be intermediate between ambigua and 
producta. It is not outside the range of possibility that the 
