Vol. xxiii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 197 
is recognized as very closely related to moesta, and an added 
character, reduced venation, is mentioned as distinguishing pu- 
trida. At the same time a race (?) from Rock Island, Illinois, 
is mentioned which equals or slightly exceeds moesta in size. 
Calvert, in A List and Bibliography of the Species (of Argia), 
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 1902, lists putrida as a variety of 
moesta. The same opinion is expressed on page 76 of the Biol. 
Cent. Am. Neur. 
In studying some material from Texas and Oklahoma, I 
have found it necessary to examine carefully the status of these 
two nominal species, and my conclusion is that, if two species 
exist, they must be defined in terms of other characters than 
those used in the past; and I am at present unable to detect 
any such characters. I have studied specimens from Texas, 
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, District of Columbia, 
Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan and Ontario. 
Of these the palest male individual is from Ontario, which 
has about one-half the mesepisternum and less than one-half 
the mesepimeron dark colored. This individual has the ab- 
domen black with pale on sides of 1, lateral apical spot on 2, 
and the customary narrow basal abdominal rings. It has the 
abdomen 33.5 mm., hind wing 25 mm. The darkest male in- 
dividual is from Wister, Oklahoma, in which the entire thorax 
is dark, with a narrow pale antehumeral stripe, not reaching 
the antealar sinus, and a narrow, abbreviated streak on the 
metepisternum. This specimen has the abdomen black, with 
the basal annulations present but dark. Abdomen measures 
32.5 mm., hind wing 25 mm. 
To facilitate a comparison of thoracic pattern of males the 
following five types of pattern may be defined and designated 
by Roman numerals: 
I, mesepisternum one-half black, mesepimeron with black in a broken 
pattern occupying less than one-half the area, metepisternum and 
metepimeron without black, with the exception of a line, present or 
absent, on the sutures. 
II, mesepisternum one-half black, mesepimeron black excepting a 
narrow anterior stripe above and a narrow posterior stripe below, mete- 
pisternum and metepimeron without black. 
