10 Geo. 5 Provincial Museum Report. P 21 



Plebelus icarioides blackmorei B. & MD. This new race was described by Messrs. Barnes 

 & McDunnough in the Canadian Entomologist, April, 1919, page 92, from twenty-six specimens of 

 both sexes sent to them by the writer, and taken at Coldstream on May 31st, 1918. In June, 

 1916, I captured about six specimens, mostly females, on a small hill some 700 or 800 feet high 

 about three miles south of Goldstream ; they were new to me, but later I found a pair in the 

 Museum collection under the name of Cupido pheres and three specimens in the collection of 

 Mr. A. J. Croker under the name Cupido icarioides. Upon further comparison I found that they 

 were all conspecific and sent them to Messrs. Barnes & McDunnough for their opinion. Dr. 

 McDuunough stated in his reply that it might prove a good geographical race, but would need 

 a good series of both sexes to make sure. In June, 1917, I was collecting in the Lower Fraser 

 Valley, and was therefore unable to be at Goldstream at the time of their emergence. The last 

 two weeks of May, 1918, were extremely windy, and after waiting a whole week in vain for the 

 wind to abate I decided to chance it, and in company with Mr. Arthur Robinson, of this city, 

 went to Goldstream. Upon our arrival there the wind was blowing as furiously as ever, and 

 the chances of capturing our prized "blue" seemed very remote. However, as we had come so 

 far, we decided to walk the remaining, three miles to the bill where I had taken them two years 

 before. On the top of this elevation is an area of about an acre in extent, totally devoid of 

 trees, and covered with blue lupines (Lupinus Columbian us Heller), on which plant the larvae of 

 this butterfly feed. Upon reaching this spot the wind was still blowing hard, and the lupines 

 were bent over at an angle of 45 degrees ; the outlook was very discouraging, as we had had 

 a long walk, and naturally there was nothing flying in such a wind. After being there a few 

 minutes I noticed a " blue " butterfly hanging on for dear life to the stalk of a lupine that was 

 swaying violently in the wind, and to my great delight it was the one we were looking for. 

 We then commenced a diligent search, and in the course of an hour and a half " bottled" over 

 forty specimens. This spot seems to be the headquarters of this species, as, although I have 

 taken it in two other places in the general vicinity, it has only been very sparingly. On the 

 Malahat, some eight miles north of Goldstream, on the side of a small mountain of some 1,200 

 feet elevation, there were acres and acres of this blue lupine, over which " blue " butterflies wore 

 swarming, and out of over a hundred that were captured only six proved to be this species. 

 Cupido pheres, under which name this insect has gone for a number of years, is only known 

 from the San Francisco Bay region and typical icarioides from the mountains of California. 



433e. Plebeius icarioides pembina Edw. This is another of our blues that has been mis- 

 identified in British Columbia collections for many years, it having passed under the name of 

 fulla in the 1904 Check-list, and under the name of ardca in Cheek-list issued in 1900. Ardca 

 is now regarded as a race of icarioides from the Great Basin region (vide Cont. Lepid. No. 

 Amer., Barnes & McDunnough, Vol. III., No. 2, page 114). 



Arctiid.e (Plate I.). 



946. Ncoarctca beani Neu. This species is a new record for British Columbia, and was 

 taken at " light " by Mr. J. W. Cockle at Kaslo on August 20th, 1919. This is one of the most 

 interesting finds of recent years, as, although it was described over twenty-eight years ago (Can. 

 Ent., Vol. 23, p. 123, June, 1891), I believe that this is the second specimen taken in the adult 

 state. It was originally described from Laggan, Alberta, where Mr. T. E. Beau bred several 

 specimens from estray larvae which he had picked up in a full-fed state. During the four years 

 that Mr. Bean spent in that district he only took one adult specimen, a male, on July 2nd. 1SSS, 

 all the others being bred from estray larva 1 , which he found feeding on willow, exclusively. In 

 the Can. Ent., Vol. 36, p. 350, December, 1904, Wolley Dod writes of having a single specimen 

 from Mr.. Dean, dated July 9th, 1900; this was also bred from a larva found on willow. The 

 only other record I can find of this species is in Gibson's Entomological Record for 190S. where 

 he states that Mr. N. B. Sanson, of Banff, had sent him a larva of this species, found on Sulphur 

 Mountain, the resulting imago emerging at Ottawa on June 15th. Mr. Cockle's specimen is a 

 male in fine condition, and we are glad to be able to illustrate this, as he has done so much to 

 work up the fauna of the Kootenay country; his untiring efforts for so many years bave given 

 us a large amount of knowledge which we otherwise would not possess. 



9S7c. Apantesis blakci diccki Neu. The specimen illustrated was taken by Mr. A. YV. l'hair 

 at Lillooet, but unfortunately bears no date. In Dr. Dyar's "List" (Bull. 52, U.N.N.M.) diecki 

 is placed as a synonym of determinata, which is a race of icilliamsi Dodge, but in Cont. Lepid. 



