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Psyche 12:75, 1905.

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SYNOPSIS OF THE TIPULID GENUS BITTACOMORPHA BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON.
This interesting genus is very widely represented by the more common and conspicuous species 3. cZav@es Fabr., which extends throughout Eastern North America from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. All the records from the Pacific Slope undoubtedly refer to
B. occidentaZi~ Aldrich (Psyche VII, p.
201, 1895) and Osten Sacken (Psyche VII? p. 230, 1895). The B. sackeniz described by von Roder from Nevada (Wiener Entom. Zeit., Heft 8, p. 230,1890) has also been recorded from Seattle, Washington, by Aldrich and re-described by him in Psyche VII, p. zoo. A specinxn from the mountains of North Carolina adds another species to our fauna.
TABLE OF SPECIES
I. Tibiz annulated with snow white near the base. 2 Tibiz
not annulated, all the metatarsi white at the tip instead of the base. smkenii Roder.
2. Metatarsi more or less swollen. 3
Metatarsi not swollen in the slightest degree, nor annulated at the base, and only those of the anterior tipped with white. ymesi n. sp
3-
Dorsum of thorax deep velvety black with a white median line. clavijes Fabr. Dorsum of thorax shining black, the white median line wanting. occidenf-
dix Aldr.
3 Head blackish, front and face covered with a silvery white. pollinose;
antennz about 4mm. in length, the two basal joints brown, the remainder black and strongly pubescent; palpi and proboscis yellowish. Dorsum of the thorax
shining black, the remainder of the thorax including the scutellum dull yellow, slightly darker on the pleurz; humeri, a lateral stripe extending to the base of the wing and pleur~ silvery white pollinose. Abdomen clavate, black, shining,
posterior margins of the second, third and fourth segments, and the genitalia yellowish, the claspers black. Cox= light yellow, base of the femora brown



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76 2's Y C ~ ~ [ June-August
becoming gradually black toward the end; tibiz black, annulated with white near the base; anterior metatarsi tipped with white, the others entirely black; the second and third joints of the tarsi white, the terminal joints black; halters dark brown. Wings grayish hyaline, the relative length of the second submar- ginal cell the same as in B. cZav$es. Length of body 8mm., of wing 7 mm., and of the posterior legs Ismm.
One specimen from Mt. Taxoway, North Carolina, at an elevation of between 3000 and 5000 ft. Collected in August, 1904, by Mr. Frank M. Jones of Wilming- ton, Delaware, to whom I dedicate this interesting species. #
VARYING ABUNDANCE OF CERTAIN BUTTERFLIES. Many collectors of butter-
flies in New England have noticed the remarkable scarcity of Anosia $Zex$$us during the last five or six summers, but little or no mention of this phenomenon has appeared in print. Since 1899 I have found it impossible to obtain supplies of larvz for class-room use, where previously the species had swarmed. In Alstead, N. H., the almost total disappearance of the species was remarked even by non-entomological observers. In 1899 it was common; in 1900 hardly a specimen could be found. Last year a diligent search revealed four of them in a region where they used to abound.
Current comment among members of the Cambridge Entomological Club suggests that AgZlzis milbedi is rapidly increasing in abundance, particularly in eastern Massachusetts.
My own observations seem to support this idea. Laertiax $hiZe?m- appears occasionally in great numbers in the neighborhood of Boston, but after a season or two of plentifulness it vanishes. Along the southern border of New England, PajiZiu ihoas and CaZZid~yas ezdule come and go.
The range of each species widens and shrinks and widens again in response to certain changing conditions, but our knowledge of those conditions is very fragmentary. It would be interesting to compare a large series of observations, and perhaps such a comparison would help us to a better understanding of the struggle for existence among the butterflies-W. L. W. FIELD.



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