New liomhylifl.'C From California. 197 



spike, solid .-ind liard, s^Mowin.u: directly out of the j^round, radiate 

 in every direction lonj^ screen leaves with sharj) s]nkes at the ends — 

 a heniis])here of riji^id, bristling leaves. As the jjlant a^jprofiches 

 maturity, and ])rei)ares to bloom, the base broadens and thickens 

 till it h;is (|uite a bulbous a])pearance; when in this condition it is 

 considered eatable by the Indians. Presently the central s])ikc of 

 close-clusterinj; leaves Ljrows taller and thicker, and from the center 

 emerges the flower stalk, very tender and white, with the close- 

 clustered buds so minute as to be scarcely recojiiiizable; at this 

 period of its t;rowth it looks very much like a huii^c stalk of as])ara- 

 gus. The ujrowtli of this flower stalk is e.\eee(liti;.jly rai)id. The 

 faster it ;j;rows the faster the flower buds develop, l)ut it is not till 

 the stalk is some five or six feet hi^jh that it Ijcgins to branch out 

 from the central stem in every direction, and subdivides again into 

 many smaller stems, each terminatinj^ in a i)erfeet flower. When 

 the plant is in full l)loom there is a s])ikc of creamy white flowers 

 two feet across and ta])erini^ ujjward three or four feet to the top, 

 where the delicate green buds are not yet open. The flowers are 

 some two inches across, generally of a delicate cream color, or ])ure 

 ^vl^ite, not infrecjuently with a line of green or purple down the 

 center of each })etal; instances are not rare where the whole flower 

 is of a rich ]iur])le color. In texture the flower is thick and waxen 

 looking. This yucca h;is the pecidiarity of dying as soon as it has 

 flowered, like the agaves. IT. F. Parish. 



[Yucca whi])i)lei, common in Southern .and Lower California, is 

 better known among the native Calif<imians as the ciote ])lant 

 (pronounced ke-o-ty), and is also known as tlie mountain yucca. — 

 EurroK.] 



NFW HOMHYLIDyE FROM CALIFORNIA. 



In ' Ii)ntomolo_gica .\niericana' X'olume I, pages 115 and 116, I 

 gave a syno])tical table of the sjjecies of Lordotus known to inhabit 

 North .America, and characterized three new species. Since the pub- 

 lication of that ])a]X'r no new s])ecies from this region have, to my 

 knowledge, been described. I give below descri])tions of two new 

 S])ecics which I collected in Southern California, and present a new 

 table of all the known s])ecies of Lordotus from North .\merica: 



1. Scutellum not grooved, roimded l)ehind 2 



Scutellum with a deep, longitudinal groove Canalis Coq. 



2. Wings hyaline, destitvite of brown clouds or spots 3 



Wings with ajjical half of first basal cell (usually), and basal 



half of marginal and of first submarginal cells brown, a 

 brown cloud on the small crossvein and another on the 

 crossvein at base of fourth posterior cell Gibbus Lw, 



