46 
Psyche 
[June 
elapsed. In the Museum of Comparative Zoology there 
are, at present, two of Dr. Chapman’s specimens. Three 
others are in the collection of Dr. Creighton. One of the 
specimens in the M. C. Z. collection bears the label “V. 
lobognathus new subsp.” and this notation is attributable 
to Creighton (ca. 1938) who now states that he does not 
believe that it is a valid new subspecies. The writer con- 
curs in this conclusion, especially because we know so lit- 
tle concerning the distribution and the variability of the 
typical form of lobognathus. Furthermore, the Missouri 
specimens are smaller than the types and the Colorado 
sample recently brought to light, and in this and other 
respects they give the impression of having come from an 
incipient nest. To base a new subspecies on such material 
is quite inadvisable. 
It may seem that the record from Missouri is too far 
east to be credited with any assurance, especially when 
even the Colorado records are so far removed from the 
main range of the genus V eromessor. But it is not an 
impossible occurrence, since Barton County is in the south- 
western section of Missouri, on the northern edge of the 
Ozark Plateau, where tall grass prairie and oak-hickory 
vegetation interdigitate. 
There is the possibility that Chapman’s locality may 
have been a Barton County in another state, and with this 
in mind, I have searched the maps of the following thirteen 
states : Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Ok- 
lahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, 
Nevada and California, as any of these states might be 
included in the range of the species. Of these only Kansas 
possesses a Barton County and it is situated almost in the 
geographic center of the state. If Barton County, Kansas, 
is the correct location for Chapman’s specimens, it is more 
plausible than the Missouri record, but it is still a long 
way east of Colorado, and for this reason extremely in- 
teresting. 
The confusion which is detailed in the foregoing para- 
graphs serves to place in bold relief the dangers attendant 
upon the attachment of locality labels and the citation of 
such. The most meticulous care is not too much to exercise 
