146 
Psyche 
[December 
A Bibliographic Note on Say’s Two Tracts of March, 1831, 
and January, 1832. — In vol. 8 of “Psyche” (1899, pp. 306-308), 
S. H. Scudder called attention to the existence of a tract entitled 
“Descriptions of New Species of North American Insects Found in 
Louisiana by Joseph Barabino,” by Thomas Say. This was pub- 
lished at New Harmony, Indiana, with the date March, 1831, 
printed on the title page, and has 19 numbered pages. Scudder 
pointed out that the text matter of this tract differed entirely from 
the one Say published, also at New Harmony, in January, 1832, 
under the similar title: “New Species of North American Insects 
Found by Joseph Barabino Chiefly in Louisiana” (16 numbered 
pages). The text of the 1832 tract was copied by J. LeConte in 
his edition of Say’s “Complete Writings”, 1859, vol. 1, pp. 300- 
309), but not that of the 1831 tract. Although this was made per- 
fectly clear by Scudder, the matter was misunderstood by W. Horn 
and S. Schenkling, when they prepared their “Index Litteraturae 
Entomologicae.” The entry No. 190018 in this work (1928, vol. 3, 
p. 1050) is erroneous in two respects. Both tracts are listed under 
this one item number and the 1831 tract is given as “separate” (or 
reprint) of the 1832 tract. In addition the text on pp. 300-309 of 
the LeConte edition is given as covering both tracts. An original 
of the March, 1831, tract was for many years in the library of the 
Boston Society of Natural History. Its present location is unknown 
to the writer. However, the library of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology contains a photostat of the original (including a copy of 
the Boston Society’s bookplate). It may be useful to point out that 
this tract has no introductory remarks nor any special information 
on localities additional to the statements given with the several 
descriptions. Furthermore the description of 3 of the 4 new species 
of Hymenoptera ( Polistes metrica, p. 15; Anthophora frontalis , 
p. 16; and Megatchile policaris, p: 17) are copied almost word 
for word in Say’s later article in Boston Jl. Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pt. 4, 
1837 (respectively on pp. 388, 409 and 406). The generic name 
Megachile is also misspelled Megatchile in 1837, but the specific 
name is now spelled pollicaris. The description of the fourth species, 
Formica mellea (p. 14) is copied in the first installment of the 
same article. Op. cit., vol. 1, pt. 3, 1836, p. 286. The 1831 tract 
also contains a redescription of both sexes of Xylocopa Carolina 
Fabricius (pp. 18-19), later reproduced by Say in 1837. — -J. 
Bequaert, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. 
