23 



Everything considered, this is perhaps the best-known species of its 

 genus, from the frequency of its attacks on cultivated crops. The 

 term species is used for convenience. Up to the year 1889 Systena 

 hlanda was considered to be a distinct species. In that year, however, 

 Dr. Horn, in his Synopsis of the Halticini of Boreal America (Tr. Am. 

 Ent. Soc, Yol. XVI, p. 273), relegated this form to varietal rank, plac- 

 ing it as a synonym of S. tamiata Say. It is not within the province 

 of this note to discuss the validity of hlanda as a species, nor dispute 

 the opinion of our greatest authority on American Coleoptera. The 

 question is largely one of opinion, and for present purposes at least 

 tceniata and hlanda may be considered distinct. A common form of 

 tceniata is shown at figure 6. It is polished black 

 with white stripes, having the same superficial ap- 

 pearance as elongata Fab. , a common Eastern form. 

 The references to published literature which will be 

 cited pertain only to accounts in which hlanda is 

 either specifically mentioned or known to have been 

 the species under consideration. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Systena hlanda is a native American species, and 

 was first described by the younger Melsheimer from PlG e.—systenatsem- 

 Pennsylvania (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Yol. ata, dark variety— about 



mi/><\ • -mm 6 times natural size 



, p. 164) m 1847. (original). 



The distribution accorded by Horn includes 

 " New England" and Pennsylvania to "Dakota," Kansas, Colorado, 

 and New Mexico. It has been observed in the greatest abundance, 

 according to available data, in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Nebraska. Injuries have also 

 been reported in Virginia, Georgia, Delaware, Michigan, and 

 Arkansas. 



The following list of localities is for the most part derived from 

 material in the National Museum, and particularly from specimens in 

 the Hubbard and Schwarz collection, and from the collections of the 

 writer and Mr. Pratt, but includes also a number of recorded localities 

 not represented by specimens: 



"New York" (exact locality unknown); Cape May, Spring Lake, and 

 Washington, N. J. ; Allegheny, Chambersburg, and Kennett Square, 

 Pa. ; Newark, Del. ; Marshall Hall, River View, Seat Pleasant, and 

 Travilah, Md. ; Colonial Beach, Woodstock, Rosslyn, Fortress Mon- 

 roe, and Pennington Gap, Va. ; Adrian and Monroe, Mich. ; Cham- 

 paign, Anna and northern Illinois; Chesterton, Columbia City, Pax- 

 tons, Sumner, and Tippecanoe County, Ind. ; Lincoln, Nebr. ; Harrison, 

 Ark., and Jackson County, Ga. Specimens identified and labeled 

 "blanda" are also present in the national collection from Winslow, 



