224 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 684 



states that "with the exception of Phoedon, 

 all of these genera are closely allied." In fact, 

 Plagiodera and Melasoma fall into a well- 

 marked group with Phcedon. 



On page 2 Professor Tower states that three 

 species of Leptinotarsa are found in the 

 United States. The following species are 

 known to occur north of Mexico : decem- 

 lineaia Say, juncta Germ., iexana Schaeff. 

 {dejecta Linell, not Stal), defecta Stal, lineo- 

 lata Stal, dahlbomi Stal, haldemani Hog., 

 rubiginosa Eog. 



Tower states that the life histories of Lep- 

 tinotarsa are almost entirely undescribed; 

 those of the following species have been 

 published: cacica Stal, hehrensi Harold, 

 undecim-lineata Stal, decem-lineata Say, 

 texana Schaeffer, juncta Germar, calceata 

 Stal, lineolata Stal. 



The list of the species of Leptinotarsa is 

 simply garbled from the " Biologia " without 

 reference to any other sources. Stal's classic 

 work on the group is not even cited in the 

 bibliography! The following two species are 

 altogether omitted: peninsularis Horn and 

 multilineata Stal. Most likely this last is the 

 "intermedia" proposed by Tower, but not de- 

 scribed. Under L. defecta at least two spe- 

 cies are confused; quite probably the quoted 

 record from Yucatan applies to still another 

 species. Leptinotarsa modesta Jacoby = L. 

 hehrensi Harold, as Professor Tower might 

 have discovered by more careful consulta- 

 tion of his one source of information — the 

 " Biologia." No attempt is made to settle the 

 status of doubtful species. Thus L. viola- 

 cesceus Stal and L. lihatrix Suffrian occur in 

 the same localities and appear to be forms 

 of one species. Tower visited these localities 

 and colle'cted these forms and a little atten- 

 tion should have settled this point. Leptino- 

 tarsa puncticollis Jacoby is merely a color- 

 variant of L. hehrensi. 



Of Tower's five new species there is no 

 descriptive matter whatever. Of four of them 

 a single elytron is figured — however, no spe- 

 cific characters are shown in these figures. 

 More useful for future identification will be 

 the larvae which are figured in three cases. 

 Professor Tower asserts that the specific dis- 



tinctions lie mainly in the colors of the beetles 

 in life, and which disappear after death; he, 

 however, studiously avoids any statement of 

 what these color-diSerences are. And what 

 are we to think, then, when on page 238 we 

 read that L. ohlonga is dimorphic and has a 

 red and yellow form! In truth, several of 

 the forms which Professor Tower enumerates 

 as species are invalidated by the evidence 

 which he presents in the body of the work. 

 Thus L. melanothorax, if Professor Tower's 

 observations are correct, can in no sense be 

 term<,d a species; it does not exist independ- 

 ently in nature and is merely a color-variant 

 of L. multitceniata. 



While there . is no direct statement to that 

 effect, one is led to infer that the elytral pat- 

 tern is of the greatest importance for specific 

 differentiation. Tet the figures, if the forms 

 are correctly associated, directly contradict 

 this view. It remains to be proven, however, 

 that such forms as appear under the same 

 name in plate 14, Pigs. 38 and 39, and in 

 plate 23, Figs. 20 and 21, really belong to- 

 gether. On page 77 it is stated that the sub- 

 costal stripes are the least variable part of 

 the elytral pattern; in L. juncta the two sub- 

 costal stripes present the most striking varia- 

 tion in that they are either independent, ex- 

 cept at their extreme ends, or fused through- 

 out, forming one heavy black stripe. 



Plate 14, Fig. 35, shows a variation of L. 

 undecim-lineata with the outer stripe wanting, 

 but this form is omitted from the table of 

 variation on page 78. 



With Tower's seven varieties of Leptino- 

 tarsa decem-lineata matters stand even worse. 

 Two of them are figured; of the rest there is 

 nothing whatever to indicate their nature — 

 unless one accepts the names themselves as 

 aids to the imagination. Some of these forms 

 are stated to show a number of characters 

 which are specific; it would certainly be of 

 interest to learn what these distinctive char- 

 acters are. To give his work standing. Pro- 

 fessor Tower must publish satisfactory de- 

 scriptions of these forms. Furthermore, he 

 should deposit series of all his species in a 

 piiblic miiseum, such as the National Museum, 

 where they would be accessible to students and 



