BOSTON breadth of an inch. Plate III. fig. 3. Dejean, Spec, des Coleopt. i 73. Head obscure bronze, somewhat brassy; front pubes¬ cent with cinereous hairs; antennae with the basal joints bronzed green, terminal joints dusky; labrum white, narrow, somewhat sinuate anteriorly, with six or eight marginal punctures bearing hairs; mandibles, which are nearly twice as long in the male as the female, dark green, with a large, white spot at base anteriorly; palpi dark green, second joint of the labials white in the male. Thunk. Thorax quadrate, sides somewhat curvelinear, hairy at margin; impressed lines greenish blue; feet green; thighs cupreous; elytra obscure bronze, sub-paral¬ lel, convex, rounded and finely serrated at tip; densely punctured, with traces of two longitudinal series of larger Cicindeke of Massachusetts. punctures; exterior and sutural margins cupreous; a white spot at the basal angle, another further back, replacing the termination of a humeral lunule; a short, narrow band, slightly sinuate in the middle, recurved at tip towards a white dot near the suture; a posterior lunule, sometimes entire, but generally interrupted, leaving its anterior ter¬ mination disjoined in form of a dot. Beneath brilliant greenish or metallic blue; sides of thorax and breast cupreous. This is a common species. It loves the vicinity of salt water, and appears in March, April and May, and again in September. * 12. ClCINDELA HEMORRH 01 DALIS. C. above, obscure cupreous or bluish black; elytra with the entire humeral lunule, the recurved, sub-interrupted terminal one, the sinuate, abbreviated, intermediate band and marginal dot, white; abdomen ferruginous.. Length fa to if, breadth fa to fa of an inch. Plate III. fig. 5. Hentz, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. N. Series, III. 254. Plate II. fig. 2. Harris, New England Farmer, VII. 91. C. Heutzii, Dejean, Spec, des Coleopt. V. I. Head cupreous, with two lines between the eyes, anterior margin and cheeks, greenish blue; eyes large, prominent, brown, with fine striae around them; basal joints of antennce bronzed green, the others obscure brown; labrum dingy white, somewhat rounded before, with six marginal punctures bearing hairs; mandibtes short, dark green, second joint of labials whitish. Trunk. Thorax quadrate, somewhat narrowed behind, as long as broad; obscure cupreous, marginal impressed 53 Cicindelce of Massachusetts. lines greenish blue; minutely wrinkled transversely, sides hairy; elytra bluish black or obscure cupreous, somewhat widened behind, rounded and mucronate at tip; a faint, subsutural line of punctures; marginal and sutural edges narrow, bluish green; humeral lunule short, almost or quite interrupted in the middle and dilated at extremities; a transverse band, composed of two half crescqpts united at their tips, of which the^ower is much the largest and points backwards, the other forwards; behind this a rounded, marginal dot, .united, in perfect specimens, to the transverse band; anterior extremity of the terminal lunule nearly or quite disjoined; legs long, bluish green; trochanters purple. Beneath , head and thorax metallic blue, breast green, sides hairy. Abdomen ferruginous red, sanguineous in the living This very interesting species was first discovered by Dr. T. W. Harris on the summit of Blue Hill,'in Milton. It does not prefer the sand and the plain, as do most of its kindred species, but its habit is, to bask on the broad, flat masses of granite which rise above the soil, retiring to the patches of moss and lichen which vegetate in the cavities and crevices. So far as I have been able to learn, it has hitherto been found only in the above-mentioned locality and one other in its vicinity, though it may probably be found throughout the whole Blue Hill range, extending to Quincy, and in similar localities. When flying in the sunshine, its crimson and nearly transparent abdomen appears like a drop of blood suspended to its tail. On this account the very appropriate name hcmorrhoiddli* was indicated by Dr. Harris to Mr. Hentz, both of whom published descriptions of it about the same time. Under this name it was sent by Mr. Hentz to Count Dejean, who also described it, under the uncouth and distorted 54 Cicindela. of Massachusetts. name of Heutsii (which he undoubtedly meant for Hentzii ) instead of the descriptive one of hemorrhoidalis which we choose to retain. It greatly resembles duodecim- guttdta, especially in those specimens where the extremi¬ ties of the lunules and fascia are disjoined, as they fre¬ quently are. The markings are, however, broader and more distinct, and it is a more slender and lively insect. The solitary tooth on the edge of the labrum is very minute, and situated in the middle of a slight emargina- tion ; it is nearly obsolete in the male, and quite wanting in the female. This is a northern species, and bears the same relation to the punctulata in the north, as do the abdomindlis and rufventris (if they be indeed different), to the same insect in the south. Dr. Harris remarks that he has never found it except between the 1st and 20th of August, though he has often sought it at other seasons. 13. Cicindela punctulata. C. obscure cupreous; beneath, varied with blue and purple; each elytron with a few white points and terminal lunule, white ; an undulated line of distant, green punc¬ tures near the suture. Length of male of female breadth of male •&, of female ^ of an inch. Olivier, II. 33. Fab. Sysi. Eleut. I. 241. Dejean, Cat. 1. Spec, des Coleopt. I. 101. Sat, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. N. Series, I. 420. PI. II. fig. 2. Like the hemorrhoidalis, this species has but one brood in a season, which appears from the middle of July to September. They frequent dry paths in fields, seldom 55 Made of Lancaster . The two last species, together with the rufiventris and abdominalis , are so nearly allied, that they might with propriety form a subdivision of the third group. ART. V.—AN ACCOUNT OF THE CHIASTOLITE OR MACLE OF LANCASTER. By Charles T. Jackson, M. D. Read April 2,1834. Among the singular forms assumed by crystals, none, perhaps, are more curious than those of the mineral called Chiastolite, or Macle. This mineral occurs abundantly in the town of Lancaster, upon an eminence called George Hill. It is imbedded in clay slate passing into mica slate. The whole mountain is composed of clay slate, but only a bed, of about ten feet in thickness, is charged with the Macle. This bed may be examined upon the road side, where the boundary line divides the towns of Sterling and Lancaster. Besides this bed of Macles, there exists an immense abundance of erratic blocks or boulder-stones which are scattered in great profusion upon the south east side of the hill, none being found on the north west. This fact I consider of value in geology, as it concurs with so many others, to prove, that at some period since the creation, there has been a powerful cur¬ rent of water rushing over our continent from the north west towards the south east: — a current of sifch mighty power as to carry away with it enormous quantities of large, rounded boulders, and deposit them many miles from their original localities. It is highly probable that this was effected by that last grand cataclysm which overwhelmed the world, and to which the traditions and religious belief of every nation give ample testimony. The curious and beautiful forms of these crystals cannot 56 Made of Lancaster. fail to attract the attention of every intelligent observer who may have an opportunity of viewing them. It was by endeavoring to ascertain how these crystals were formed, that the author of this article was first led to investigate the structure of minerals, and to read some of those interesting sermons that are written in every stone. If the same feeling of curiosity is excited in those who may read this short and imperfect essay, and any one is induced to study the subject which has afforded him so much pleasure, he will consider his labor of some value, since it may be the means of bringing new and more effi¬ cient laborers into this comparatively little explored ^eld of science. The name Chiastolite or Crueite was given to this mineral by Karsten, and adopted by Jameson in his Sys¬ tem of Mineralogy. The first of these names was derived from the resemblance which the dark lines of the crystals bore to the Greek letter X. Crudte signifies a stone like a cross. Haiiy gave the name Made now generally adopted for the mineral. Previous to this, Rome de Lisle had used this term for those crystals now called Hemitrope, or half turned round sections of crystals. Haiiy defines the term Made to signify a prismatic crys¬ tal, whose interior is hollowed out. For my own part, if the mineral were to be considered a distinct species, I should prefer the old name Chiastolite , as more descrip¬ tive of the specimens met with in this country. The name Made , as used by Haiiy, is more appropriate to the French and German varieties, which are generally very small, and have the exterior crust very thin, and difficult to study by itself. From a long and attentive examina¬ tion of the forms assumed by this mineral, I came to the conclusion that it is identical with Andalusite, from which it differs only in respect to the arrangement of the crys- Made of Lav talline groups. Ten years since I prepared fac simile drawings of the principal crystals upon which this opinion is founded. These figures were freely circulated among the various mineralogists who visited me at Lancaster. Among others, they were shown to President Cooper, of Columbia College, S. C. who urged me to publish them, which I promised to do in the Boston Journal of Science and Arts; but that publication having soon after ceased to appear, I never laud them before the public. I men¬ tion this to account for the fact, if my notions on this subject should now be found wanting in novelty. I ob¬ serve Mons. Beudant, in his Mineralogy, published two years since, advances as his opinion, that Made is only a variety of Andalusite filled in its interior with clay slate, in which it had crystallized while that rock was in a gelatinous state. He differs from me in some of his views, especially in considering each Made as one crystal, while I maintain, that they are mostly groups of crystals, assem¬ bled together by the law of groupment , and prevented, in some instances, from coming in contact, by the argilla¬ ceous paste in which they were formed. The drawings and specimens I have given will prove the correctness of my views. Plate IV. Fig. 1st, a b represents the two extremities of a crystal two inches long. It will be observed, that the black substance in the interior of the group has a pyramidal form, the base being represented by a and the summit by b. Fig. 2d, c d, a crystal three inches in length, which shows the separate individual crystals constituting a group or Made. The form is per¬ ceived to be generally that of a right square or rectangular prism, some of them having been rendered a little rhombic, by unequal pressure during crystallization. Fig. 3d, ef represents the two extremities of a crystal two inches 'tong, having on its transverse section the perfect figure of VOL. i .—part i. 8 58 Macle of Lancaster. a rectangular cross, the entering angles being truncated, fig. 4th represents a group of crystals arranged in the form of a true cross, but having a small, solid crystal in the centre. Fig. 5th represents a section of a very hard and compact crystal, which has a black rhomb in the centre, from which lines diverge to the solid angles, divid¬ ing the crystal into four parts, the lines being in the diagonal of a square. Fig. 6th, i Tc represents a very curiously complicated group of crystals; the whole being two inches long from the extremity i to 7c. A very remarkable difference is observable between the figures of the base and summit. Fig. 7th represents two crys¬ tals intersecting each other at angles of 60° and 120°. Fig. 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th are views of extremely hard crystals which are found in micaceous argillite; their forms are peculiar. Fig. 10th shows an emarginate crys¬ tal. Fig. 12th, a twin group. Fig. 13th, a crystal having a little quadrangle in the centre, surrounded by a crust of red colored Macle and the whole exterior of the crystal is enclosed in a pearly crust which may be easily cleaved from the enclosed crystal. Fig. 14th represents a soft decomposing crystal of a greenish grey color. Fig. 15th represents a very delicate line of the Macle arranged in the shape of a rhomb. Fig. 16th, a very hard crystal, having all the characters of the common Andalusite, ex¬ cepting the minute rhomb in the centre. Fig. 17th, a singular group of separate crystals. Figs. 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st, other varieties of form assumed by this curious mineral. From measurement of more than a hundred specimens I find the form of the white or reddish substance of the Macle to be a right square, or rectangular prism, some¬ times a little rhombic. The form of the Andalusite is, according to Phillips, 91° 20' which nearly coincides Made of Lancaster. with our mineral, the difference not being more than could be easily accounted for by disturbing causes during crys¬ tallization, to which all the varied and beautiful forms under which this mineral appears must be referred. Haiiy thought from observation of the natural joints of this mineral, that it had an octaedron with a rectangular base for its primitive form. This I am disposed to doubt, and refer it at once to the form of Andalusite, which is a right square, or slightly rhombic prism. It is singular that this mineral should have remained so long without having been analyzed, and can only be accounted for by the imperfection of foreign specimens, and the difficulty chemists anticipated in its attack. Berzelius examined Macle before the blow-pipe, and gave his opinion that it was probably a subsilicate of Alumina, a result which I have since proved by the analysis accompanying this article. After waiting in vain a long time for some chemist to make an examination of this stone, I at last determined to set the question of its composition and nature at rest, by analyzing it. Having enjoyed opportunities of procuring fine and perfect specimens of the mineral during my resi¬ dence of three years in the country where almost every rock in the fields contained them, I made a plentiful col¬ lection of all the varieties which this mineral presents. For analysis I took a Macle from a dark, bluish-black, micaceous clay slate from Lancaster, similar to fig. 9, and having carefully freed it from the surrounding matrix, I dissected out the black, rhombic prism from its centre, as foreign to the crystal. The specific gravity was found to be equal to 3.03. Hardness equal to that of Andalusite, or = 7.5 of the scale Mohs. Before the blow-pipe it is infusible and becomes white. It dissolves with great difficulty in glass of borax, and the glass had a yellowish 60 Made of Lancaster. tinge when exposed to the oxidating flame. With car¬ bonate of soda it swells and decomposes, but does not melt. Moistened with nitrate of cobalt and exposed to the blowpipe it acquires a fine blue color. It dissolves slowly in phosphate of soda. ANALYSIS. The mineral was broken into fragments in a steel mortar, and reduced to impalpable powder in one of agate. The powder Was of a greyish white color. Process A. To determine the quantity of water it contained, fifty grains of the powdered mineral were sub¬ jected to a red heat for fifteen minutes in a platina cap¬ sule. It became of a brownish color, and when weighed was found to have lost 0,75 gr. The change of color was owing to the conversion of prot into per oxide of iron. Process B. To separate the oxide of iron the powder was digested with muriatic acid for six hours, and when thrown on a filter, washed, dried, and ignited, was found to have lost three grains. The filtered liquid was now treated to excess with liquid ammonia, and the precipitated oxide of iron collected cm the filter, washed, dried and ignited with a little wax to reduce it to the state of prot¬ oxide. It was entirely taken up by the magnet, and when weighed amounted to 2 grs. Process C. The # powder from which the iron had been separated was now attacked by three times its weight of pure caustic soda, to which sufficient water was added to form a thin paste with the powdered mineral. The whole in a platina crucible was first heated carefully, to expel cautiously the excess of water, the cover being nearly close over the crucible. It was then covered and subjected to a full red heat in the furnace for an hour. Made of Lancaster. 61 The mass was completely fused, and being softened with water, was entirely dissolved in dilute muriatic acid. The solution was now evaporated to dryness and heated to render the silicic acid insoluble. The mass was then moistened with muriatic acid, and the soluble muriates dissolved in water, leaving the silicic acid, which, col¬ lected on a filter, washed, dried and ignited, weighed sixteen grains. Process D. The solution and washes were reduced in bulk by evaporation, and then treated with a solution of carbonate of ammonia in excess, to precipitate the alumina. The whole was then thrown on a filter of known weight, and the alumina separated by the filter was thoroughly washed with hot water for thirty-six hours, until the water came away pure. The alumina being dried and ignited weighed thirty grains. Filter, when burned, gave 0.5 gr. alumina to be added to the above. Process E. The alumina redissolved in sulphuric acid left 0.5 gr. silicic acid to be added to that obtained by process C. To determine if potash was contained in the mineral, I examined the filtered solution and washes, by means of the muriate of platina, but found no trace of its presence. This mineral consists then, in 50 parts, or, in 100 parts, Process C & E, Silicic acid, 16.5 33.0 “ D, Alumina, 30.5 61.0 « B, Prot-oxideofiron, 2.0 4.0 “ A, Water, -75 1.9 loss .25 loss .5 50.00 100.0 2 Made of Lancaster. According to Bucholz and Vauquelin, Andalusite con- Vauquelin. Si. 32.16 Al. 52.24 Potass. 84 'I Ox. Iran 2. Ox. Iron 4.0 101.0 loss 6. 100.50 The similarity in composition between the specimen of Andalusite analyzed by Bucholz and that of the above mineral is obvious, and is sufficiently near to prove their identity as mineral species. By adding up Bucholz’s analysis we perceive there is a gain of one grain in a hundred. The potash obtained in the analysis by Vau¬ quelin may have been derived Iran the materials which he employed; but as we have not the details of his analy¬ sis it is impossible to discover the sources of error. Macle must now be considered as a variety of Anda- lhsite which, from disturbing causes and crystallization in a gelatinous medium, has assumed the curious forms of natural mosaic work. ART. VI.—OBSERVATIONS ON A SHELL IN THE CABI¬ NET OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, SUPPOSED TO BE IDENTICAL WITH THE MUREX ARUANUS OF LINNjEUS and the FUSUS PROBOSCIDIFERUS of LA¬ MARCK. Read Dec. 18,1833. By A. Binney. The systematic works on Conchology contain many descriptions of shells, made up from reading and copying rather than observation, in which error is so blended with truth, that it is difficult to distinguish the species intended to be referred to. This happens sometimes in consequence of the great rarity of the shell, which cannot be obtained for comparison with former descriptions, and sometimes from the carelessness of the compiler, who takes upon trust, what has been copied from author to author, instead of seeking the original sources for correct information. A remarkable instance, in which probably both of these causes have combined to produce error, occurs in the descriptions of the shell to which Linnaeus gave the name of Murex Aruanus. This species is extremely rare in this country ; the specimen under consideration being the only one which has come under my observation in the principal cabinets; and as the most recent conchological works only copy the description, and refer to the figures of the early authors, which would not be the case if it could be found in the public collections, it may be con¬ sidered equally uncommon in Europe. It is the largest and heaviest of the univalve shells, and its characters are so distinct and well marked, that it could not have escaped the attention of conchologists, had it been more common. How far they have noticed it, will appear in the follow¬ ing remarks. 64 Observations on a Shell, fyc. The earliest description which I find in the books to which we have access, is in the work of Buonanni, entitled “ Recreazione del’ Occhio et della Mente,” in which there is also a figure, intended doubtless for this shell. His de¬ scription is as follows: “ Trocho che per antonoraasia si puo dir Magno e Doppio, perche si trova grande quanto e la figura qui posta; Doppio poi, perche sembra essere di due turbine composto ; e solcato con ottima divisione da capo a piede, e dove le volute si congiungono raggiorasi un cordone, che gratissamente sporgendo in fuori, le dis¬ tingue.” In a Latin translation of the same, work, which was published a few years later, under the title of “ Mu- saeum Kireherianum etc.” the same figure appears again, with the following description: “ Antonomastice Magnus et Duplex appellandus. Superat enim caeteros magnitudi- ne, et ex duplici turbine in basi simul coeuntibus, videtur compositus- Pulchro striarum transversarum dispositione sulcata. Qua spirarum turbines coaptuntur, rotundae striae circumferunter, alterum ab altero discriminantes.” These are evidently descriptions of the same shell, with only such slight differences as would naturally occur in describing the Same object at different times, with this exception, that in the Italian description, the shell is said to be called great because it is of the size of the figure annexed, which is only four or five inches long ; while in the Latin description, it is stated to exceed all others in magnitude, and hence to be called emphatically great. This discrepancy was doubtless accidental, and may be explained on the supposition that the author intended in the first instance to have annexed a figure of the natural size, or to have accompanied it with a scale, or some other mode of indicating it. This oversight is worth notice, as the correction of the error, and the indication of the*great size of the shell, have been overlooked, while the length Observations on a Shell, fyc. 65 of the figure seems to have been referred to by most authors as the correct standard. Rumphius, in his “ Thesaurus imaginum Piscium, Tes- taceorum,” etc., gives a figure probably intended for the same shell. I have not seen the text of his work, but notice through quotations in other works, that he states its habitat to be the Island of Aru. Figures are also to be found in the work of Martini and Chemnitz, and in Favanne’s Dictionary; but as there are no copies of these works in this city, I have not been able to refer to them. The shell figured by these authors, was described by Linnaeus under the name of Murex Aruanus. His de¬ scription is compounded from the figures of preceding authors, and is so remarkably meagre, as to induce me to believe that he had never seen the species to which he was giving a name. It is probable indeed, that he never saw many of the shells which he described. The cabinets to which he had access must have been poor and uninter¬ esting, formed more for display than for scientific utility, and in his great desire to give a place to every created object, he was often obliged to satisfy himself with inaccu¬ rate representations. His descriptions of course partook of, and probably increased their errors, and hence, some of his species cannot now be identified, even in the most complete and ample collections. His description, as given in the 12th edition of his “ Systema ” is, “ Testa patulo- caudata; spira spinoso-coronata. Habitat ad Novam Guineam, Chinam. Testa ponderosa, rudis, saepe nigra, seu sub-ccerulea.” The' next systematic work in which our shell is noticed is that of Bose, which forms a part of the continuation of Deterville’s edition of Buffon’s works. He contents him¬ self with a simple translation of the above description into French, and is equally silent as to the size of the shell. 66 Observations on a Shell , fyc. Dfllwyn, in his descriptive catalogue, thus characterizes it: “ Shell ventricose, with the spire conical, and coronated with spines; aperture dilated, with the beak long, and the pillar flexuous.” “ Chemnitz’s figure is five and one quar¬ ter inches long, of which the beak occupies two inches. It is coarse and ponderous, and slightly ribbed transversely.” From these remarks of Dillwyn, it is apparent that he had no specimen before him, and that he only repeated what had been said by others, referring to Chemnitz’s figure, as if that indicated the size of the shell. Wood, in his “Index Testaceologicus,” gives an unco¬ lored figure, and states its length to be five and a half inches ; both of which circumstances prove that he merely followed the path of preceding authors. Lastly comes Lamarck; and on his descriptions we may rely with confidence, as they were written from specimens actually before him. He describes a shell under the name of Fusus proboscidiferus as follows: “ testa fusiformi, ventricosa, transversim sulcata, fulvo-rufescente; anfrac- tibus angulatis, supra planulatis; angulo tuberculis nodi- formibus coronato; spira, parte superiore cylindracea, proboscidiforme, apice mamillari, labro intus laevigato.” ,«I received this shell,” says Lamarck, “ under the name of ‘ trompe d } Aru,’ but the characters and synonyraes of Linnaeus and Gmelin do not correspond with it. This Fusus is very remarkable on account of the superior part of the spire, which resembles a straight trunk or proboscis, as it were inserted and terminal. Length 3 inches 11 lines.” On examination of this description, I believe it will be manifest that ours is the same shell; the only obscure character being that relating to the end of the spire, which is said to resemble a proboscis. In what this fancied re¬ semblance consists I cannot say, but I am not surprized Observations Shell , Sfc. that he could not identify his shell with the descriptions of preceding authors, these being so vague and loose as to give a very imperfect idea of the shell intended to be represented. It is possible that some deformity caused the remarkable appearance noticed by him in his specimen. On reviewing the preceding descriptions, I think I am justificed in concluding, that since the time of Buonanni this shell has been rarely seen, and that the descriptions in the books are mere copies, one from another, down to Lamarck, who possessed a small specimen. The great size and beauty of this species induced me to suppose that conchologists would be gratified to see a new and correct figure, (see plates V. & VI.) and a more perfect descrip¬ tion, which I now add. Fusus Aruanus. PI. V. and VI. Shell fusiform, ventricose, large and ponderous, of a uniform light yellow color externally, and pale flesh color within; transversely striate, the striae gradually becoming larger from the summit to the body whorl, where they are distinct furrows. Spire conical, crowned at its summit with nodular tubercles, which gradually decrease and become obsolete as the whorls increase in size. Whorls promi¬ nently angulated, uniting with each other a little below the angle. Body-whorl large and ventricose, its angular carina about equidistant from the tip of the spire and ex¬ tremity of the canal. Beak long and somewhat flexuous. Pillar lip so far dilated as to leave a considerable umbilical opening. Outer lip entire and trenchant, within smooth and polished. Epidermis dark brown. Murex Aruanus, Linnaeus. Sytema etc. ed. 12. No. ^56. p. 1222. Mus. Reg. Ulr: No. 322. p. 641. Fusus proboscidiferus. Lamarck. Vol. VII. p. 126. Observations on a Shell, fyc. Buonanni Rec. et Kirch: III. f. 101. Rumphius Tab. XXVIII. fig. A. Martini IV. vign. 39. The length of the shell is 22 inches, and its circumfe¬ rence round the body whorl 28 inches ; it is supposed to have been brought from the East Indies. BOSTON JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. Vol. I. MAY, 1 835. No. 2. ART. VII—ON CERTAIN CAUSES OF GEOLOGICAL CHANGE NOW IN OPERATION IN MASSACHUSETTS. Bt Edward Hitchcock, A. M., Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Amherst College. Communicated March 5, 1835. The object of this communication is, to call the atten¬ tion of the Society to certain causes that are at work to modify the surface of this State, but which seem hitherto to have been almost entirely overlooked by our geologists. Some of them do, indeed, exert only a very limited influ¬ ence. But at a time when every fact illustrative of the dynamics of causes now in action is eagerly sought after, none, however feeble, should be overlooked. I do not mean that these causes (except perhaps one or two of them) are not described in the treatises on geology; but merely that their operation has not been noticed on this side of the Atlantic. In describing them I hope so to avoid technical obscurity, that my statements will be intelligible to every man of good sense, whether a geologist or not; so that, should the Society make them public, many may be led to observe similar phenomena and to describe them, and thus the facts on the subject be multiplied. VOL. I.-PART II. 10 70 Causes of Geological Change SUBMARINE FORESTS. Although these are not uncommon in Europe, accord¬ ing to geblogical writers, they seem to have been unno¬ ticed in this country.- But I am inclined to believe them common enough along Our coast. They consist of the remains of ancient lowland forests, now submerged a few feet below the sea, though sometimes laid bare at low water. The vegetables found in them are such as now grow in swamps along the coast; and peat is not un¬ commonly found. This is the case, according tp Lt. Jonathan Prescott, in the harbor of Nantucket, where was found one of these forests, when it was dredged, under the direction of that gentleman, a few years since. The stumps and masses of wood discovered there were maple, oak, beech and cedar. (Cupressus thuyoides.) These were very much decayed, except the cedar, which was nearly as sound as ever. These relics were buried by four feet of sand, and lay about eight feet beneath- low water mark. I have ascertained the existence of similar submarine forests at Holmes’ Hole, on Martha’s Vineyard, near the southwest extremity of that island, on the north shore; on the north side of Cape Cod, extending several miles into Barnstable Bay ; and on the shore of Provincetown harbor, opposite the village. But as I have not been able to give these places much examination, I hope this slight notice will excite the attention of gentlemen favor¬ ably situated along our coast for observing these and other cases of the same geological phenomenon. Submarine forests must have resulted either from the elevation or subsidence of the land or the ocean. And since they generally occur under similar circumstances, in Massachusetts. 71 and lit about the same depth (a few feet) beneath the ocean, it would seem as if the same cause had produced them all. But geologists have not discovered any cause which elevates or depresses either land or sea so uni¬ formly as this effect seems to require. The draining of a swamp on the coast, by the bursting of its sandy bar¬ rier, whereby the loose materials settle down into a more compact state, will explain some cases of this kind. Earthquakes, also, do sometimes cause the land to sub¬ side. But no such agency has been known to produce a submarine forest. Nor is there any decisive evidence that the waters of the ocean are subject to a slow eleva¬ tion. So that, upon the whole, although we can ex¬ plain the origin of submarine forests in particular places, it seems difficult to account for the great similarity of circumstances under which they occur all oyer the globe. ACTION OP ATMOSPHERIC AGENTS UPON HARD QUARTZ ROCK. Those numerous rounded and smoothed boulders of quartz, so common in the western part of Massachusetts* appear to have bid defiance to all decomposing agencies in past ages, and to be destined to endure unchanged for ages to come. But I examined lately a curious and instructive example of these boulders, in the fruit-tree nursery of Mr. Tracy, in Norwich, which seems to indi¬ cate that decomposition may be going on where we scarcely suspect, it. This boulder was several feet in diameter; and though not as smooth as some boulders of this rock, yet I should not have suspected that it had suffered the least waste, were it not for an inscription upon its surface. The name of John Gilpin is marked 72 Causes of Geological Change upon it in a large fair hand, except that a few of the letters are incomplete. These letters are not cut in the stone, nor do they consist of any foreign substance, like ink, or paint, spread over it. But they are rendered visible simply by the lighter color of the surface, where they were originally written, probably with some sort of paint, which for a time prevented the rock beneath it from decaying, while the decomposing process went on gradually on the other parts of the stone. By passing the fingers over the letters we perceive that they project a little, though scarcely enough to be visible to the eye. Now as this inscription must have been made since the settlement of that part of the State by the whites, we cannot suppose that more than one hundred and fifty years, at the longest, have since elapsed; and probably the period is much less. We have here, then, an imper¬ fect measure of the rate at which hard quartz rock will decay by atmospherical agencies; though we cannot say but it may have been many years since the paint, with which the letters were made, was so worn off that these, as well as the other parts of the surface of the stone, have been subject to decomposition. ALLUVIUM OF DEGRADATION. In mountain ridges, where one or both sides are nearly perpendicular naked rock, especially trap rock, frost commences the work of crumbling them down. Water, penetrating the fissures of these rocks, expands by freezr ing, and forces them slightly asunder. This makes room for a larger portion of water the succeeding winter ; and thus the process goes on, until the columnar masses of rock are urged downward by the force of gravity and in Massachusetts. powerful rains. This is- the origin of those extensive slopes of fragments of rocks, or debris, which arrest the attention on the mural faces of the greenstone ridges in the valley of the Connecticut. Generally these fragments rise only about one half or two thirds the height of the ridge; though sometimes they extend to the very summit.. Instances of this kind are sometimes regarded by geolo¬ gists as a sort of natural chronometer, demonstrating the recent origin of the present state of the globe. It is difficult, however, if not impossible, to compare this levelling process with historical records. When the three causes of degradation above men¬ tioned,—frost, gravity and rains,—combine their maxi¬ mum energy on the sides of steep and lofty mountains, they sometimes produce the well known and often terrific phenomenon of land slips, or mountain slides. The only place worthy of notice, where these have occurred in Massachusetts, is on Saddle Mountain. Let a person follow out that spur of this mountain called Bald Moun¬ tain, and from its barren summit he can look directly down into that vast gulf called the Hopper, whose steep sides afe covered with trees of various species, with occa¬ sional patches of evergreen. On the northeast slope he will perceive several traces of these slides, whereby the trees and loose soil, of considerable weight, have been swept down, sometimes from the height of sixteen hun¬ dred feet above the bottom of the valley. It is not more than six or eight years since one or two of these slides took, place; and the paths which they made are still .. almost destitute of vegetation ; while, in other instances,* $ we see t^ces of an earlier avalanche in the stinted^ growth, or peculiar character, of the trees that have sprung up. It is said that one of the most remarkable of 74 Causes of Geological Change these slides took place in 1784 ; and that it swept away one dwelling house, though the inmates escaped. POWER OF ICE REMOVING BOULDERS PONDS. It is well known that water, by an apparent exception to a general law, expands with great force when freezing, and even for several degrees above and below the freez¬ ing point. Over a large surface this effect may be con¬ siderable ; and when boulder stones, lying in shallow ponds, become partially enveloped in ice, they must feel the effect of this expansion, and be forced towards the shore ; since the expansive force must always act in that direction. As no antagonist force exists to drive the rock back again to its original position, the ultimate result of the freezing, during successive winters, must be, to crowd it entirely out of the pond. And may we not in this way explain the fact, that sometimes we see the margin of a pond lined with a ridge of boulders, while the bottom is comparatively free from them ? This curious fact has yet been noticed in but a few places in New England, probably because the attention of observing men has not been directed to it. ENCROACHMENT OF THE SEA UPON THE LAND. Boston harbor furnishes a striking example of this kind of action. The numerous islands in this harbor, as far outward as the Great Brewster, consist chiefly of diluvial sand and gravel, resting upon slaty, sienitic, and con¬ glomerate rocks. Beyond the Great Brewster, however, this diluvium is wanting ; and the islands consist almost entirely of naked rock. It would be reasonable to infer 75 that the diluvium had been washed away from these islands, did we not actually detect the process. But at the Great Brewster, the work is going on before our eyes. Its eastern or outer side is a nearly perpendicular bank of diluvium, obviously wasting away by the action of the waves, that roll in upon it from the wide Atlantic ; while the extensive beach, stretching away from its southern point in a westerly direction, is composed of materials swept from its eastern shore. Several other islands exhibit a similar process on their Atlantic shores. Can we doubt, then, that all the outer and rocky islands have been deprive^ of their coat of gravel and sand by a simi¬ lar process ? Whether the whole space between the Great Brewster and the outermost of the Graves, which is not less than two and a half miles, was once occupied by diluvium, cannot be certainly determined; though very probable. Indeed, when one passes along the south shore of Massachusetts Bay, and finds nearly the whole of Plymouth and Barnstable counties made up mostly of the fragments of such rocks as are found in Essex and Suffolk counties, will he not be led to ask whether the whole Of Boston harbor, and even most of Massachusetts Bay, may not have been produced by the long continued action of the waves, urged on by a northeast wind, and accelerated, perhaps, by diluvial agency? True, the mind is staggered in attempting to conceive of the im¬ mense period requisite for such a work by existing agen¬ cies, operating with no greater intensity than at present. But the geologist, who means correctly to appreciate the changes which our globe has undergone, must prepare himself to admit many such periods for their accomplish¬ ment, even if he admit an occasional increase of intensity 76 Causes of Geological Change I apprehend, however, that the dynamics of the north¬ east storms that prevail upon our coasts, is usually under¬ rated. One has only to look at the naked sienitic rocks of Cape Ann, to be satisfied that they have been subject to a very powerful and long continued aqueous agency. But from the statements of several intelligent gentlemen, I am satisfied that one cannot justly appreciate the power of these storms without witnessing them. 1 am informed by Mr. Benjamin Haskell, who resides at Sandy Bay, on the northeast side of Cape Ann, that on Flat Point, in that vicinity, where the slope of the shore is very small, at the distance of nearly one hundred feet inward from high water mark, there lies “ what a farmer would call a winnow of boulders,” evidently thrown up by the waves; and some of them weighing from fifteen to twenty tons. One of them, which weighs twenty-eight tons, has been driven southwesterly one hundred and six feet, across a considerable depression; so that it must have been ele¬ vated in its course not less than ten feet. In the great hardness and unstratified structure of the .rocks of Cape Ann, (and the same may be said of those of Cohasset and Scituate,) we see the reasons why they have so successfully resisted this powerful agency, while the softer and stratified rocks that once occupied Boston harbor have given way before it. PURGATORIES. I find the name Purgatory applied, in their vicinity, to severs^ extensive perpendicular excavations in the rocks of New England. The most extensive one occurs in Sutton, Massachusetts. It is a vast chasm nearly half a mile long, in gneiss ; and its walls are for the most part Massachusetts. perpendicular, sometimes seventy feet high. Its width is upon an average, about fifty feet; though for a consider¬ able part of its course, large fragments of gneiss occupy much of the fissure. The dip and directions of the slate that form its sides, correspond with those of the rocks generally, in that vicinity ; and hence it is difficult to im¬ pute its origin to a subterranean upheaving force; for had the sides of the fissure been removed by such a force, we should expect the strata to have somewhat of a quaqua- versal dip; or at least, that the fissure would coincide with our anticlinal axis ; which is so far from being the case, that the basset edges of the strata cross the fissure nearly at right angles; and they dip in only one direction. In the southeast part of Newport, Rhode Island, (or perhaps in the southwest part of Middleton,) the coarse conglomerate rock contains numerous fissures, crossing the seams of stratification nearly at right angles, run¬ ning parallel to one another, as well as perpendicular to the horizon. In a high rocky bluff on the coast, at the spot above named, two of these fissures occur, not more than six or eight feet apart; and in the course of ages, the waves have worn away the intervening rocks, so as to form a chasm about seven rods in length, and sixty or seventy feet deep; the sides being almost exactly perpendicular. This is called Purgatory ; and the sea still continues its slow work of extending the chasm farther into the cliff. On the south shore of Newport is a similar fissure, in granite. It is not so extensive as that in the conglome¬ rate, being about twenty feet deep. During a southerly wind, the waves are forced into it with great violence ; and on reaching its extremity, are driven upwards in spray to the height sometimes of thirty feet above the 78 Causes of Geological Change rock. Hence this fissure is called the Spouting Cave. Even the hard and Unstratified granite yields slowly under this violent and everlasting concussion. Was not the Sutton Purgatory produced 'in the same manner, during some period of the past, when the spot constituted the shore or the bottom of the ocean,?.. What strange fancy has applied this whimsical name to such fissures, I know not. But whether imposed originally by Catholic or Protestant, it wiU now be fio easy matter to change it. Chatham Beach is perhaps the most remarkable forma¬ tion of this sort in Massachusetts. It forms the south¬ eastern extremity of Cape Cod; all of which was proba¬ bly produced in this manner. Twenty years ago this beach was an island, and a good harbor existed at its northern extremity, which is now so entirely filled up, that no indentation appears along the coast. Webb’s island, also, formerly situated near this harbor, is entirely washed away. Chatham harbor, once excellent, is now nearly ruined by these changes. According to Des Barres, who constructed a chart of this coast in 1772, Chatham Beach had extended for thirty years previous to that time, at the rate of a mile every twelve years. The impression in the vicinity is, that it advances south¬ erly about a mile in eight years. But a respectable writer in the Barnstable Journal says, that it has extend¬ ed only three miles in seventy years. According to the same writer, Nauset Beach, which connects with the mainland at Eastham, has extended a mile southerly in the last fifty years. Around Nauset in Massachusetts. 79 harbor the salt marsh has so much increased, that three hundred tons of hay are now cut annually, where only flats existed forty years ago. Monomoy Beach extends southerly from Chatham to¬ wards Nantucket, and was formed by increments at its southern extremity. A few years since the sea made a breach across its northern part, so that it is now an Sandy Neck extends eastward nearly acrdss Barnsta¬ ble harbor, and continues to advance in an easterly direction. Smith’s Point, which forms the southeastern extremity of Nantucket, was nearly in the same situation when Des Barres constructed his chart, as at present. But since that time it has been shortened a mile or two, and again extended. Details of this kind might be multiplied were it neces¬ sary ; but they are not of much use to geology, unless the precise rate of advancement and retrogression can be Such facts make one feel as if such low sandy islands as Nantucket were sliding beneath his feet. But that no large island on our coast has been very essentially chang¬ ed since man was placed on the globe, is evident from the fact, that their shores often exhibit cliffs of clay and sand .in regular layers, constituting a distinct tertiary formation, whose period of deposition must be placed earlier than the creation of man. DUNES, OR DOWNS. Frequently on the coast, the sand is carried qp so far upon the land by the waves and spray, that the reflux 80 Causes of Geological Change waves do not force it back. After it is dried, the sea breezes force it still further inland ; and in the course of time, ridges of considerable elevation are formed. These constitute those moving sand hills, which, ? on the eastern continent, especially on the hanks of the Nile, are so famous under the name of dunes or downs* On the shores of Cape Cod they are very common* and are sometimes as much as sixty or seventy feet iugh. At the eastern extremity of die Cape they move westward ; and they threaten at present the village and harbor of Provincetown, if not arrested the beach grass, which has recently been transplanted to their summits by order of government. I cannot learn that any of, the dunes of Cape Cod have yet produced much injury to farms or villages, as they have done on the eastern continent. The sands of Africa, it is well known, have advanced as far as the Nile, burying cities and fertile regions of great extent. And it would be strange if the future history tif the southeast part of Massachusetts should not contain catastrophes of a similar kind, though of far more limited extent. But few dunes occur in the interior of Massachusetts. In the valley of the Connecticut I have noticed them on a small scale in Montague, Hadley, and Enfield, Ct. These, in consequence of the prevalence of northwest and westerly winds, are slowly advancing towards the southeast. ICE FLOODS. Whoever has not witnessed the breaking up of a river in a mountainous region, after a severe winter, when its surface has been covered by ice, several feet thick, can in Massachusetts. form but a faint idea of the force exerted by a stream in such circumstances. The ice, towards the source of the river, is generally first brbken in pieces by the swollen waters. Large ^masses are thus thrown up edgewise, and forced underneath the unbroken sheet, and the whole bed of the stream is blocked up; perhaps too where the banks are highland rocky. The water accumulates behind the obstruction until the resistance is overcome; and the huge mass of ice, and water urges on its way, crushing and jamming together the ice which it meets, and thus gains new strength at every step. Often, for miles, the stream, prodigiously swollen, is literally crammed with ice, so that the water disappears; and a slowly moving column of ice is all that is seen. This presses with such force against the bottom and sides of the stream, as like heavy thunder, to cause the earth to tremble for miles around. Sometimes the body of ice becomes so large, and the fric¬ tion so great, that the waters are unable to keep it in motion, and it stops; while the river is turned out of its channel, and is compelled to flow for weeks, and even months, in a new bed. It is impossible that such floods should not operate powerfully to modify the surface in alluvial regions, and to excavate the beds of rivers. I am confident that no other agent in the mountainous parts of this state is so energetic. Though its effects are not small in alluvial regions, yet I apprehend that its maximum power is seen ifl those rocky ravines, through which such rivers as the Deerfield and the Westfield pass, among the mountains. Masses of rocks of various sizes, some ten, fifteen^or twehty feet in diameter, may here be seen, some of them tom up from their beds and remove^, considerable Hs- tance, strewing the bottom of the streams, and at low 82 Enumeration of £lants water almost covering the surface; and others only par¬ tially lifted from the parent rock, waiting l^anolher con¬ vulsive effort of the torrent to detach tfiem ,and give them an erratic character. In short, One sees in such streams, a cause fully adequate to the production of those numerous boulder stones that are scattered over the coun¬ try : I mean a cause sufficient to detach and round them. J£jp>bably, however^the expansive agency of water, frozen ip the seams of rocks, contributes not a little to lift them out of their original beds. ART. till.—ENUMERATION OF PLANTS GROWING SPON¬ TANEOUSLY AROUND WILMINGTON, NORTH CARO- * LINA, WITH REMARKS ON SOME NEW AND OBSCURE SPECIES. By Moses A. Cuhtjs, A. M. Communicated, Sep¬ tember 3,1834 * The desirableness of local catalogues of Plants directories to the collector, and their importance to the teresting subject of Botanical ^Geography, need not urged upon those for whom this paper is written. * In is hoped their value will become still more appreciated, and that they will be multiplied until definite localities are . established for all the American species. The only Cata¬ logues including local Floras, of which I have any know¬ ledge, are ^he following: 1. Flora of West Chester County, Penri., by Dr. Dar¬ lington.—^. Florula Bostoniensis, by Dr. Bigelow.—3, § i is .s Wilmington, JY. C. Flora Philadelphia, by Barton.—4. Flora Columbiana, Dr. Brereton.—5. Florula Louisvillensis, McMurtrie.—6. Fforula Lucbviciana, Rafinesque.—7. Catalogue of Plants about Plandomey L. I., (vid. Medical Repository,) by C. W. Eddy.—*8. Do. of the island of New York, Le¬ conte. (Vid. Medical and Philosophical Register, Voi. II.).—Jfe Do. in the vicinity of New York, Torrey.—10. Do. of Cincinnati, Ohio, Dr. Drake.—11. Do. of Am¬ herst, Mass., Professor Hitchcock.—12. Do. of Berkshire County, Mass., Professor Dewey.—13. Do. of the State of Massachusetts, Professor Hitchcock.—14. Do. of Ken¬ tucky, Professor Shortt.—15. Do. of Newbern, N. C., by Groom and Loomis.—16. Do. of the vicinity of Yale College; Prof. Ives.—17. Do. of Charleston, S. Q. and vicinity, Rev. J. Bachman.—18. Do. of Columbia, S. C. and vicinity, Mr. Gibbes. A first essay of this kind is almost necessarily incom¬ plete, and that in proportion to the extent of the examin¬ ation. The present is the result of a collection made in little more than two seasons at intervals from other en¬ gagements, and much ground still remains unexamined. Still it embraces over a thousand species, about two hun¬ dred less than are reckoned as belonging to the state of Massachusetts, more than half the number described in Elliott’s Botany of South Carolina and Georgia,* and about a fourth of the phenogamous Flora of the United States. It js confidently believed, that no section of the Union, of equhl extent, contains such a rich and extensive 84 Enumeration of Plants variety of plants as are to he found about , Wilmington; and many morej doubtless remain to be discovered, as 1 detected several at the last examination iTrade there. Most of the species enumerated inhabit a circle around this place of aboil* two miles radius. A number collect¬ ed at Sudfrhville, at the mouth of the river, are also in¬ cluded, which have not been found at Wilmington* These are principally maritime species, and are found within ten miles of Wilmington, in an easterly direction. Several are furnished by Dr. McRee, from his plantation, at Rocky Point, a few miles north of Wilmington, which are marked R, P. in the catalogue, and rest entirely on his authority. W^mington is situated in latitude 34° IT, and longitude 78° 10 7 , about thirty miles from the mouth of Gape Fear river, on which it stands, and ten or twelve miles from the sea, in an easterly direction. Its precise elevation above the Ocean I have not learned, but it is so small as to de¬ serve little or no consideration in regard to botanical geog¬ raphy* Indeed much of the low land in the vicinity is but little above the level of the ocean. The climate may be pretty well determined from the following table of temperature, made from observations taken in 1832. The thermometer was placed in the shade on the north side of a house. Observations taken six times a day, from 8 and 9 o’clock A. M. to 11 P. M. Fractions omitted. Hail 1. Snow 0. Medium temperiture of the year, 64° Fahr. growing around Wilmington, N.- C» 85 I have not materials for forming axj accurate Floral Calendar for Wilmington, but the fallowing notices show the flowering time of a few plants in the spring of 1832. Daffodils in flower, * . , February 1st. ' f Red Cedar and Elm, . Red Maple, Jonquils, .... Peach and Plum, . Cercis Canadensis, Flowering Almond, Epigaea repens, . Phlox subulata, . Luzula campestris, Vaccinium corymbosum, Viola cucullata and canceolata, Cardamine Virginica, . Thlaspi bursa-pastoris, . Bayberry (Myrica.) In 1831, Daffodils blossomed January 1st, and the white Hyacinth at Christmas, which is about their usual period of flowering. By a paper from Dr. Bigelow, in the Memoirs of the American Academy, Vol. IV., there appears to be a dif¬ ference of about two months in the flowering time of some of these plants at Wilmington, and the same at Boston and Albany ; but this is true only of early flowering species which are ready to expand in the first warm day of Spring. As a general rule, plants blossom at Wilmington, from four to six weeks earlier than in Massachusetts. The Draba verna and Poa annua open as early as December!' so that there is no month in which vegetation is not going on, though Spring does not commence until February. I think that Mr. Elliott has generally given the periods of 8ft. 10th. 12th. 26 th. ->* 27tb. March 1st. “ 6th. “ 10th. 86 Curtis’s Enumeration of • flowering with sufficient accuracy for the latitude of Wil¬ mington, though I hate noticed a few that are earlier than he gives them. The Catalogue is arranged according to the Natural Orders of Professor Lindley, as applied to otir Flora, by Dr. Torrey, in his Appendix to Lindley’s work. The nomenclature is intended to be that of Eaton’s Manual, (fifth edition), that work being in more general use, and containing more plants than any other to which I could refer. The popular names in use at Wilmington, as far as they are known, and the localities of a few rare spe¬ cies, are given for the benefit of such as may have occa¬ sion to*refer to the catalogue on the spot. Most of the plants are abundant. It has occurred to me while preparing this paper, but too late to profit by the suggestion any farther than to offer it to others, that a classificatiori of the soils peculiar to the district, to which the several species may be refer¬ red by appropriate characters, is a desirable appendage to Catalogues of this kind. The botanist, and especially the florist, would find it interesting and profitable to know the habits of the plants, as indicated by their choice of soils. The terms wet, dry, shady, &c., suggest ideas as different as the features of the country we inhabit, and are too indefinite for general application. In preparing the Catalogue I have been kindly assisted by Dr. Torrey, whose name will at once ensure confi¬ dence in its general accuracy. To him have been com¬ municated nearly all the doubtful and new species, and they have received numerous corrections and references. The most difficult species may, therefore, be regarded as the most accuratelflreferred. In my own part of the labor, Plants around Wilmington, N. C. 87 it is not unlikely that mistakes and oversights have been committed* which, if discovered, will be rectified hereaf¬ ter. Some species remain undetermined and may form the subject of another paper. To Dr. James F. McRee, of Wilmington, an accom¬ plished Botanist and Florist, I am particularly indebted for numerous contributions of plants, which escaped my own observation. To his labor and research no small part of the Catalogue should be ascribed; Situated in such an extensive and inviting field for the prosecution of the study of Natural History, it is much to be hoped that he will hereafter find ample time for investigating the subjects of his favorite departments, for which his refined taste and accurate observation so eminently qualify him. ARALIACEiE. Aralia spinosa. UMBELLIFERjE . Hydrocotyle vulgaris, repanda, umbellata. Angelica atropurpurea. (r. p.) Cicuta maculata. Daucus pusillus ? (Smithville). Eryngium aquaticum, Button Snake Root. ovalifolium, Virginianum. (Enanthe filiformis, __ longifolia; (Sium rigidius Ell! S. tricuspidatum, Ell! S. denticulatum, Ell.) Sanicdla Marilandica. Sison capill^ceus. Smyrnium cordatum. (r. p.) Uraspermum Canadense. n c. % Of n. c. Ph. Ell. ( 10 ) n°nL. ( 11 ) JV. c. n. c. 100 Curtis’s Enumeration of . Andromeda paniculata. (17) (A. ligustrina, Ell.) speciosa, “ var: pulverulenta. Azalea nudiflora, Honeysuckle . Clethra alnifolia. Cyrilla racemiflora. Epigsea repens. Kalmia angustifolia, Jficky. “ var: ovata, cuneata, (18) latifolia, (r. p.) Leiophyllum buxifolium, (Brunswick). Oxycoccus macrocarpus, (19) Cranberry. Yaccinium arboreum, Sparkleberry. corymbbsum, dumosum, Chimaphila maculata. Monotropa uniflora. CAMPANULACEJE. Campanula, funplexicaulis. LOBELIACE£. Lobelia cardinalis, Kalmii, “ var: grkilis, puberula, syphilitica. CUCURBITACEJE. Melothria pendula. • Plants around Wilmington, N. C. 101 PLANTAGINE*. Plantago interrupta ? lanceolata, major, Plantain. Virginica. * Statice Limonium ? (Masonborough). COMPOSITE. Achillea millefolium. Ambrosia elatior. Anthemis cotula. (F. Waddell’s). Aster concolor, dumosus, flexuosus, Nutt. paludosus, puniceus, rigid us, solidaginoides, squarrosus, tortifolius, undulatus. Baccharis halimifolia, sessiliflora. Balduina uniflora. (Brunswick). Bidens bipinnata, chrysanthemoides, frondosa. Boltonia glastifolia. Borkhausia Caroliniana. Buphthalmum frutescens. Chaptalia integrifolia. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. Chrysocoma nudata. Chrysogonum Virginianum. Chrysopsis dentata, falcata, iV. a (27) N. C. ' JV. c. 15 Torr. (I. .jv. c. \\8 toideifhave sprung up near the ferry opposite Wilming- ton, andj seem to have been introduced among ballast thrown o»t from vessels, as I do not know that any of “ them have ever been cultivated in the plajgp. Being of , spontaneous occurrence, and bidding fair to become natu¬ ralised, it was thought proper to include them in the enu¬ meration, and to ?ive descriptions of such as are not found in our Floras, for the benefit of those who may happen to meet with them. They are all communicated * by Dr. McRee. ^ Datura metel. “ Leaves cordate, nearly entire, pubes¬ cent; Pericarps prickly, globose, nodding.” Loudon. Flowers large, white. Plant* much larger than D. stra¬ monium* A native of Asia. 1 observe in Gibbes’ Cata¬ logue that this plant is naturalized about Columbia, S. C. Tnbulus cutoides. “ Leaflets in 8 plfirs, nearly equal.” Loudon. Plant very pubescent, with yellow flowers. A native of South America. >«■ Both these plants are cultivated in* several gardens in the$ttnited Stated perhaps extensively. (2) Laurus albida. Does not appear to me to pre- i V sent characters sufficiently distinct from L. sassafras, its color being the principal one. Superior virtues are as¬ cribed to the latter, probably Wause it is rarer than the white variety. | W - # (3) Laurus meliss&fdlia. Transplanted by Dr. McRee into his garden some years ago, from £ near locality, but * he has not since been able to find it. (4) Cocculus CaroRnm. Menispermum Carolinianum, Mx. Leaves ovate, cordate, sdtnetimes 3 lobed, the younger acute, older obtuse, short, mucronate, smooth above, to- mentose beneath. Plants'around Wilmington, JV. C. 119 “ Stem woody, twining around shrubs and trees to the , ♦height often or fifteen feet, older ones green, mottled with-* brown, unarmed and pubescent. Racemes supra-axillary and terminabilonger or shorter than the leaves. Flowers' small and inconspicuous: Masc; FI. calyx 6 leaved, 3 outer ones much smaller, orbicular, concave, jjreenish- white; corol 6 petalled, succulent^ petals erect, acute/ narrow, orange yellow, each embracmg a filament at the base; filament long as the corol, broad.at base; anthers 4 lobed, yellow. Fem: FI. have a roundish germ with 6 rectilineal short styles, producing a round drupe, enclosing a single fiat, umbilicated or lunate seed, of a hard, stony texture. Sepals 6; Petals 6.” McRee in Lit. A part of • Decandolle’s description may be acceptable to those wba have not his work. “ Pedunculi axillares ; Masc ; racemosi^implices pfeti- olo vix breviores, interdum longiores, ab ipsa basi flo- rifera; Fem: a basi tripartiti aut trifidi, ramulis brevibus 1 floris; sepala sdx, extus 2-3 squatiois munita; petala 6; Masc: stam. 6 petalis opposita; #Fem: ovarii 3 ; baccae 1-3, maturae rubrae (Micb.); flores interdum hermaphroditi (Wend.) et staminum numero varii (Ph.). Hab. In sylvis et sepibus Carolinae (Lin.) Geo. et Flor. (Mx.) Car. to Flo^Ph.).” D. C. Syst, Nat. Found at Srnithville iff sandy soft among scrub oaks; more vigorous at Wilmington on the borders of damp shady woods; also at Rocky point by Dr. McRee. Flowers in June add July. Sir J. E. Smith objects to the genus Cocculus, but I find it in Torrey’s Appendix to Lindley, whence I sup¬ pose it will enter into the American Flora. Our plant has not the 6 capsules of Wendlandia, but in every other particular, it harmonizes so exactly with Wildenow’s de- 121 Plants around Wilmington, N. C. cent; leaves temate, mostly oval, sometimes ovate and oblong ovate, obtuse, emarginate at each end, mueronate, smooth above, pubescent and paler beneath ; peduncles elongated, si§. to twelve inches long, often filiform * flowers Scattered pedicels 1-—2 Knes long; calyx acuminate ; legume pubescent, with a ,subulate point. Allied to G. glabella, but more slender and delicate in all its parts, with smaller flowers arifl longer peduncles, leaves proportionally broader and paler underneath. Spe¬ cimens gathered in the upper districts of the State agree better with Nuttall’s description of G. mollis, if indeed this be his plant, in being much more villous than the plant above described. I am induced to believe that this is Nuttall’s G. mollis, principally from the fact that he ^ found his plant C5€ihfounded with G. glabella in Muhlen¬ berg’s herbarium. That Mr. Nuttall’s G. pilosa is the G. mollis, Mx. I think can admit of very little question. (9) Galega ambigua. Stem decumbent, pubescent, angled ; leaves five to six inches long, the petiole naked about a third of its length; leaflets four to seven pairs, with a terminal one, truly cuneate, obovate or oblong, truncately obtuse, younger ones rounded, emarginate, with a short, rigid mucro, smooth above, pubescent beneath, very strongly veined, arif somewhat ribbed beneath with red veins ; Peduncles large, flattened, somewhat two edged, about the length of the leaves, partial ones three to four lines long; Legume with a short, but thick, whitish pubescence, mostly falcate, ten to tweljre Seeded. Hab. sandy woods. Flowers in June. Repeated examinations of this plant for two seasons have led me to the conclusion, that it is distinct from the following. It is not impossible, that in other localities, it Plants around Wilmington , N. C. 123 , which is evidently G. villoma, Mx. I am uncertain whether my G. amb'igua is not G. paucifolia, N. but it cannot be G. villosa, Mx. •* , Galega chrysophylla, Ph. I collected a single speci¬ men of this at Savannah, sine fl. one of the leaves of which has seven leaflets. (12) Hedysarum sessilijolium, var: angustifoliura. Tor. Stem 2-H* feet high, pubescent, scabrous, particularly in the panicle ; leaves subsessile; leaflets linear, 12-418 lines long, 2—3 wide, minutely pubescent, but smooth ; stipules subulate ; panicle terminal, large, expanding, branches simple. Loment 2—3 jointed, very hispid. Hab. sandy shaded soils. * (13) Acalypha Caroliniana. Not having seen Wal¬ ter’s description, I do not know if this is his plant, though it is the one passing among botanists under the above name, jnd is that of the Flora Cestrica. . It is not the A. Caroliniana of Elliott. A. Virgtnica is the same with Elliott’s, and Bigelow’s, and is that of Linnaeus secund. Pluk. Phyt. T. 99, f. 4. (14) Dionaa musctpula. This plant is found as far north as Newbem N. C. and from the mouth of Cape Fear river nearly to Fayetteville. Elliott says, cm the au¬ thority of Gen. Pinckney, that it grows along the lower branches of the Santee in S. Carolina. Dr. Bachman has received it from Georgetown, S. C.; and Mr. Audu¬ bon informed me, with the plant before us, that he has seen it in Florida, of enormous size. I think it not im¬ probable, therefore, that it inhabits the savannahs, more or less abundantly, from the latter place to Newbem. It is found in great abundance for many miles around Wil¬ mington, in every direction. I venture a short notice of 124 Curtis’s Enumeration of this interesting plant, as I am not aware that any popular description of it has been published in this country. The leaf, which is the only curious part, springs from, the root, spreading upon the ground, or at a little elevation above it. It is composed of a petiole or stem with broad margins, like the leaf of the orange tree, two to four inches long, which at the end, suddenly expands into a' thick and somewhat rigid leaf, the two sides of which are semicircular, about two thirds of an inch across, and fringed around their edges with somewhat rigid cili® or long hairs like eyelashes. It is very aptly compared to two upper eyelids joined at their bases. Each side of the leaf is a little concave on the inner . side, where are placed three delicate, hairlike organs, in such an order, that an insect can hardly traverse it, without interfering with one of them, when the two sides suddenly collapse and enclose the prey with a force surpassing an insect’s efforts to escape. The fringe or hairs of the opposite sides of the leaf interlace, like the fingers of the two hands clasped together. The sensitiveness resides only in these hairlike processes on the inside, as the leaf may be touched or pressed in any other part, without sensible effects. The little prisoner is not crushed and suddenly destroyed, as is sometimes supposed; for I have often lib¬ erated captive flies and spiders, which sped away as fast as fear or joy could hasten them. At other times I have found them enveloped in a fluid of a mucilaginous consist¬ ence, which seems to act as a solvent, the insects being more or less consumed in it. This circumstance has sug¬ gested the possibility of their being made subservient to the nourishment of the plant, through an apparatus of absorbent vessels in the leaves. But as 1 have not exam¬ ined sufficiently to pronounce on the universality of this 125 Plants around Wilmington , N. C. result, it will require further observation and experiment on the spot, to ascertain its nature and importance. It is not to be supposed, however, that such food is necessary to the existence of the plant, but like compost, may increase its growth and vigor. But however obscure and uncertain may be the final purpose erf such a singular or¬ ganization, if it were a problem to construct a plant with reference to entrapping insects, I cannot conceive of a form and organization better adapted to secure that end than are found in the Dionaea muscipula. I therefore deem it no credulous inference, that its leaves are con¬ structed for that specific object, whether insects subserve the purpose of nourishment to the plant or not. It is no objection to this view that they are subject to blind ac¬ cident, and sometimes close upon straws as well as insects. It would be a curious vegetable indeed, that had a faculty of distinguishing bodies, and recoiled at the touch of one, while it quietly submitted to violence from another. Such capricious sensitiveness is not a property of the vegetable kingdom. The spider’s net is spread to ensnare flies, yet it catches whatever falls upon it; and the ant lion is roused from his hiding place by the fall of a pebble ; so much are insects also, subject to the blindness of accident. Therefore the web of the one, and the pitfall of the other are not designed to catch insects! Nor is it in point to refer to other plants of entirely different structure and habit which sometimes entangle and imprison insects. As well might we reason against a spider’s web, because a fly is drowned in a honey pot; or against a steel trap because some poor animal has lost its life in a cider barrel. (15) Arenaria diffusa , Ell! Stellaria elongata, N. I formerly described this plant under Nuttall’s name. I have since discovered it with petals, which are linear, VOL. I.-PAST n. 17 126 Curtis’s Enumeration of obtuse, undivided , equalling the calyx, and find it to be an Arenaria. The petals are generally wanting, and I have never found it with, more than three. Elliott’s ac¬ count of the size of the petals differs from mine, but the plant in his Herbarium is the same with mine. There is no specimen of Stellaria prostrata in Herb. Ell. (16) Hex vomitoria. The popular designation of this shrub is Yopon , a name of Indian origin, which I give as I have heard it pronounced. I have never seen the word in print, except in an amusing relic of the last century, called a Natural History of N. Carolina. The writer, one John Brickell, M. D., spells it Yaupan, and saith it is the plant “ whereof the tea is made, so very much in request among both the Indians and the Christians.” It is still used, apd is said to make, if well cured, a very pleasant beverage. Its specific name indicates no very agreeable properties. (17) Andromeda paniculata. The plant so called by botanists; but the A. ligustrina, Ell. and Vaccinium ligus- trinura Lin. A. ligustrina, Eat. Man. is, I suppose, the same. The following is a description of a plant closely allied to the above, and perhaps no more than a variety. The flowers I have not seen. Ten or twelve feet high, young branches red and smooth; leaves ovate lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, glabrous, mi¬ nutely serrulate, re volute, dark green and shining above, paler, somewhat ferruginous and furfuraceous beneath ; panicle long, branches short, with two or three small leaves; calyx segments ovate, acute ; Accessary valvules very distinct. Capsule ovate, obtuse, hardly angled. (18) Kalmia cuneata. This plant does not properly fall within the range of the catalogue, but I have intro¬ duced it because a rare species, of which few localities 127 Plants around Wilmington, JV. C. are known. It was detected by Rev. T. P. Hunt about thirty miles N; E. of Wilmington, I think near Beattie’s Mills. I am indebted to the same gentleman for several other species of rare occurrence. (19) Oxicoccus macrocarpus. . Introduced on the au¬ thority of popular report. I have never visited the locality where it is said to grow. (20) Liatris tomentosa. (L. Walteri ,Ell!) Stem two feet high, simple, tomentose; leaves at the base of the stem cuneate lanceolate, the lowest with a long attenuated base, but dilating at their junction with the stem ; upper leaves lanceolate, closely sessile, all terminated by a whitish gland; flowers in a terminal corymb, branches 2— 4 flowered, peduncles about an inch long, thickening upward; calyx about 20 flowered, scales acute*tomen¬ tose. Hab. savannahs. Flowers in September. This is the true L. tomentosa, Mx. Elliott’s plant of this name is the L. corymb6sa, Nutt, which, though close¬ ly allied, appears to be a distinct species. (21) Si'phium terebinthinaceum; var: sinuatum. Stem naked, 4—6 ft. high, smooth and glaucous. Leaves radi¬ cal, pinhatifid, segments mostly toothed, somewhat sca¬ brous, having scattered hairs, margin very rough ; petioles 3— 6 inches long, smooth. On the stem are three or four distant leaflets 2—3 lines long. Flowers small, in corym¬ bose panicles ; outer scales of the involucrum roundish oval, inner ones longer, obtuse, minutely ciliate; florets of the ray 4—6, irregularly inserted, half an inch long, twice as.long as the involucrum; of the disk numerous, having exserted, clavate, simple styles, pubescent at the summit; seeds winged, obovate, emarginate, two toothed . when young, those of the disk abortive. Chaff of the receptacle shorter than the florets of the ray, obtuse, pu¬ bescent at the summit. 128 Curtis’s Enumeration of Hab. sandy, open woods. Flowers in June ? I have traced this plant through the lower part of this State into Virginia and S. Carolina, and find it constantly preserving its character. The S. terebinthinaceum with undivided leaves does not appear within one hundred miles of the sea coast, but is abundant in the upper districts. In company with it is found a variety with divided leaves like that above described, differing from it only in its more perfect flowers and larger size. I can discover no charac¬ ters in these plants sufficient to constitute separate spe¬ cies. The outline of the leaves is the same in all. In other parts of the plants 1 can see no difference. (22) Podostigma pubescens. Usually described as having linear leaves, but I have not often found it with that character. The louver pair are always spatulate or obovate, and only the uppermost ones linear. I have a specimen a foot and a half high, with leaves more than two inches long, and over half an inch wide. This is above the common size of the plant, but its proportions are preserved. (23) Gelsemium sempervirens. This beautiful climber is possessed of very deleterious properties. Its od<% though very agreeable, sometimes induces headache,"pSo:- ticularly in a close room, and death has ensued from suck¬ ing the flowers* A negro empiric administered a portion of the root to two patients in Wilmington, one of whom soon died under its effects, and the other was only saved by the timely aid of a physician. (24) Gentidna Catesbcei. This species is readily dis¬ tinguished from G. saponaria, by the long linear segments of the calyx and its open corolla. It is finely delineated in Bigelow’s Medical Botany. Tab. 70. of Catesby’s Carolina, represents it. 129 Plants around Wilmington , N. C. (25) Convdlvulus sagittifolius, Mx. non Smith. Ipo- maea sagittifolia, Ker. Icon. Catesby Nat. Hist. Car. vol. i. Tab. 35. Quoted under C. arvensis Eat. Man.! AH over very smooth. Leaves sagittate, oblong and linear ; auricles often expanding into a hastate form, acuminate. . Peduncles shorter than the petioles, with the bractes above the middle ; flowers rose colored^ large as C. panduratus. Calyx leaves rounded, mucronate. Flowers in August. Grows on the borders of saline marshes at Smithville, prostrate, or twining cm other plants. I have met with it in one instance in woods, half a mile from the tide water, where other saline plants are not found. Michaux, under this plant, refers to Pluk. T. 85, f. 3, (referred to by Linnaeus under C. Wheeled,) which has an evident resemblance to it; but the flower is too small, not so open, the border more entire ? calyx not mucro¬ nate, auricles of the leaves obtuse, and the leaves appear to be slightly peltate. Ipomaea sagittata, Poir. is re¬ ferred to the same figure in Plukenet, and C. Wheeleri quoted as a synonyme. That author expresses a doubt whether Michaux’s plant is the same, and leaves it unde¬ termined, on account of a deficiency in the description. But Poiret’s plant being an Ipomaea, it is ter be inferred, that he found a single stigma, and the capsule is 5 valved. Michaux’ plant has two globose stigmas and a capsule 2-3 valved according to Mr. Elliott. Smith has a C. sagittifolius in the Flor. Grace, of later date than Michaux’ name. (26) Convolvulus Pickeringii. Prostrate, villous; Leaves linear, 12-15 lines long, one line wide, obtuse, not mucronate ; Peduncles longer than the leaves, 3 flowered ; Flowers aggregate at the summit, two of them pedicelled in the axils of leaves that exceed the flowers, with linear bracts at the base of the calyx which equal the flowers, the other sessile and without bracts. The upper peduncles become 2 and 1 flowered. Calyx very villous. Corol hairy, white; style 2 cleft a little below the summit, the parts unequal; Stigmas capitate. Hab. sandy barrens. Flowers June* Allied to C. patens, but dearly distinct. First noticed by Dr. Pickering, to whom it is dedicated. (27) Iporftaa trichocarpa. Differs from Elliott’s in a few particulars. Peduncles pot half the length of the petioles, 1 flowered; Bracteas about the middle of the peduncle; Corol near an inch long, pink or white; Fila¬ ments half the length of the corol, style a little longer. Hab. rice fields. Flowers July. (28) Ckelone Lyoni. Introduced on the authority of Nuttall, as I know of no other who has seen it. Had I not so much confidence in the general accuracy of his observation, I should mistrust he had mistaken the purple variety of C. glabra for it. I have never seen it except on the high mountains of this State. (29) Gratiola acuminata. Stem 12-18 inches high, erect, square, angles slightly winged, branching, and with the whole plant smooth; Leaves opposite, lanceolate, wedge attenuate at base; the lowest oblong, revolute at the margin, obtuse, the upper half serrate ; Flowers numerous, opposite, axillary; Peduncles an inch long, slender, twice the length of the leaves, standing between two small linear leafets in the axils; Calyx leaves 5, linear or linear-lanceolate, equalling the tube of the corol, one a little larger and broader than the rest, nerved ; Bracts none or deciduous ; Capsule ovate, somewhat acute; Stamens 4, all fertile. I describe from dried Plants around Wilmington, N. C. 131 specimens, and cannot tell the color of the flower. Plant becomes black by drying. This is Elliott’s plant, but I do not know that it is described by any other author. It will doubtless be removed from this genus. In Leconte’s Monograph of this genus in the Annals of the New York Lyceum, this plant is said to be the Herpestis cuneifolia, but without offering any evidence. See next note. (30) Herpestis cuneifolia. This is also Mr. Elliott’s plant, and is referred by Leconte to H. Brownei. This author has some evidence of error in Elliott’s references, unknown to myself, or he must have overlooked some important facts in the case. The plant appears to coin¬ cide minutely with Michaux’ description, while the Gra- tiola acuminata does not, and has a different habitat. The H. Brownei, too, is not found in the eastern district, but was discovered by Nuttall at New Orleans, and does not correspond with the present plant. Eaton quotes Pursh for H. Brownei, but I do not find the plant in his Flora. Nuttall has a mark of discovery with it, in his Catalogue, though he gives no description. (31) Maebridea pulchra. Stem hairy and slightly scabrous ; Leaves denticulate, not serrate, the upper ones entire, nerves hairy, both sides covered with glandular dots; Whorls 5-10 flowered ; Bracteas obtuse; Large segment of the calyx deeply emarginate; Style equalling the longer stamens. This differs somewhat from Elliott’s description, hut the plants are not distinct. For numerous specimens I am indebted to Dr. McRee, who collected them on fhe causeway leadirig from Pot¬ ter’s rice field. (32) Mentha rotundifolia. Hoary, spikes oblong, interrupted, somewhat, hairy. Leaves roundish, rugose, 132 crenate, sessile. Bracteas lanceolate. Vid. Smith’s Eng. Flora. Unpleasantly scented. Found in Green’s lower rice field, and elsewhere— hardly naturalized ? Probably introduced by the early English settlers. (33) Iris vema. The plant described by Nuttall. Is it I. cristata, Hort. Kew. ? The description of Pursh appears to have been made from young specimens. (34) Sisynnchium Bermudiamm. Elliott’s plant doubtless, but I can discover no difference between it and S. anceps of the Northern States. (35) Bleiia aphylla. “ Superior every way to B. Tankervillii, with the odor of Iris vema.” McJRee in Lit. (36) Cymbidium graminifolium. If size, different shaped leaves, and different period of flowering can con¬ stitute specific character, this is distinct from the C. pul- chellum. The narrow leaved one, flowers the last of April, the other about the first of June, when the former has nearly or quite disappeared. (37) Juncus megacephalus-. J. echinatus, E. non M. Stem 3 feet high, leafy, smooth, and like the leaves, interrupted by valves. Leaves terete, acute; Sheath 3-4 inches long, open ; Stipule bifid ; Panicle terminal, dichotomously branched; Heads 10-15, large, globose, 70-90 flowered, one sessile in each fork of the panicle ; Bracts (exterior calyx, M.) mucronate; Calyx valves equal in length, linear, the exterior broadest, pungently acute, shorter than the acuminate capsule. Hab. rice fields. Flowers June. It is difficult to find characters which will clearly dis¬ tinguish this plant from J. polycephalus, except in the large, globose heads, which give it an aspect very different 133 Plants around Wilmington , N. C. from any variety of J. polycephalus I have ever seen. The plant is more robust, and the florets considerably larger. (38) Tojieldia glaberrimd. This plant is abundant in the savannahs around Wilmington, where Nuttall dis¬ covered his T. glabra, which offers a presumption of their being the same species; and Mr. N., in Yol. V. of the American Academy, suggests, that they are probably not distinct. If identical, and I have no doubt they are, he as his description is inapplicable to our plant. T. glabra, N. Scape (?) 8-10 inches high ; Spike 10-15 lines long ; Flowers 30 or more ; Bracts extremely minute; Filaments equal to the pe¬ tals and germ; Styles none; Capsules 3, distinct to the T. glaberrima, Ell. Stem 18-30 inches high; Spike 2-3 inches long; Flowers 40-60; Bracts half as long as the pedicels; Fila¬ ments shorter than the pe¬ tals and germ; Styles short; Capsules divaricate at the (39) Eriocavlon jlavidulum ? Stem pubescent, 5 grooved; Leaves short, 1-2 inches long; Scales of the involucrum oblong oval, obtuse, lucid. This appears to be Michaux’ plant, but I am not cer¬ tain that it is Elliott’s. (40) Andropogon vagimtus, Ell 1 1 have a variety of this plant with the spikes 4 parted, like A. tetrasta- chyus, and the peduncles much exserted like A. argen- teus. The peduncles, however, are not uncommonly exserted in this species, though Elliott represents them as enclosed. (41) Aristida landta , Poir. “ Leaves very long, VOL. i. —part n. 18 134 Curtis’s Enumeration of scabrous ; sheaths woolly; branches of the panicle elon¬ gated, subverticillate; peduncle pilose at the base, awns subequal.” Poir. Leaves sheathing the base of the stem, 12-15 inches long, flat, rigid, scabrous above/ attenuated to a point ; Lower valve of the calyx much the longest, the interior about equalling the corol, narrower; Intermediate awn more than a third longer than the lateral, and more than twice the length of the corol. “ Awns as long as the corolla, the intermediate some¬ what the longest.” Ell. “ Awns nearly equal, about twice as long as the flow¬ er.” Poiret. , “ Intermediate awn 2-3 times longest.” Tor. in Lit. The tendency of this plant to vary in the length and proportion of its awns is fully established by the above observations. I have a variety of this plant, with a panicle more slen¬ der, destitute of the tomentum, and the interior valve of the calyx apparently narrower. (42) Aristida strictd, Mx. Culm 2 feet high, round and smooth, leafy; Leaves convolute, pubescent on the margin, lower ones 12-18, inches long, stiff and wiry; Panicle appressed; Calyx longer than the corol, valves unequal and subequal, awnect, lower one shortest; Corol distinctly pedicellate, pubescent at the base ; Awns ex¬ panding, intermediate one a fourth longest, and about twice the length of the corol. ' Hab. sandy barrens, where it appears in scattered tus¬ socks a foot thick, and very compact, with its matted, fibrous roots, sending up numerous erect, wiry, filiform leaves and a few stains. Well known under the name of t0re grass. This plant is abundant in the lower districts 135 Plants around Wilmington , N. C. of S. Carolina; but there is no specimen of it in Elliott’s Herbarium. Aristida stricta, Muhl. Gram, appears to be A. spici- formis, Ell. It maybe proper to add that A. gracilis, Ell. is A. longespica, Poir. (43) Aristida virgata, Trin. Culm 2-4 feet high, leafy to half its height, simple, glabrous* slightly com¬ pressed ; Leaves 5-% ^nches long, linear, flat, 1-2 lines wide, scabrous on the upper surface., attenuated to a point; Sheaths short, smooth, striate; Panicle appress- ed; Calyx longer than the corol,. valves acute, subequal, the lower shortest by position, scabrous on the keel; Awns expanding, the middle one a third or one half long¬ est, and three times as long as the corol. The sides of the calyx valves split with, age, which gives them the appearance of being 3 awned. Flowers twice as large as A. stricta, to tjvhich this has a general resemblance, but does not grow in tufts like that. A. purpurascens and A. lanosa have the upper valve of the calyx shortest; in A. stricta and A. virgata it is longest. Hab. sandy barrens. Flowers August and Septem? ber. I have had this in manuscript for two years, when, just on the eve of. its publication, Dr. Torrey has found it already taken up by Trinius, Dis3. Gram. Sce^who received it from North America. (44) Cenchrus ineertus. Stem 2-3 feet high, branch¬ ing at every joint, erect, or decumbent at base, rooting from the lower joints; Sheaths open, longer than f the joints; Spikes exceeding the. sheaths, 10-20 flowered; Involucres -pubescent, about LQ* spined, containing 2 spikelets; Spikelets 2 flowered, one hermaphrodite, the other staminate; Calyx glumes unequal, shorter than the 136 Curtis*s Enumeration of corol, the exterior half the size of the other,, very acute, nerveless except the midrib, the interior 6 nerved (5-7 nerved ?) ; Sterile flower of two nearly equal valves, acute, pubescent under a lens, exterior 5 nerved, interior 2 nerved, enclosing three filaments; valves of the perfect flower rigid*, outer one longest, enclosing the inner, ob¬ scurely 5 nerved, inner one enclosing the seed, obscurely 3 nerved ; Styles 2; seed obovate, obtuse. In a careful comparison of this plant with C. echinatus and tribuloides I find no difference in their flowers. The involucrum is less spiny, naked at the base, spines shorter, and the plant more robust. I found it preserving its character through two seasons, and for distinction’s sake have imposed a trivial name upon it, but am far from being certain that it is more than a variety of C. echinatus. Found at Smithville in cultivated fields. It approaches nearer to C. tribuloides than C.'echinatus. (45) Festuca duriuscula ? Stem 2| feet high, round, very smooth; Lowei 1 leaves 18 inches long, 1-2 lines wide, carinate, slightly scabrous, and with elevated nerves on the upper surface; Sheaths not half as long as the joints; Panicle erect, secund, with short, racemose branches; Spikelets linear lanceolate, compressed, 9-12 flowered; Calyx unequal; Exterior valve of the corol 3 nerved, acute or with a short awn, interior valve einarginate*. Flowers May. Found cm Mink Island, Masonborough with F. elatior. Neither of them are found on the main, to my knowledge. (46) Limnetis juncea, var: monogyna. Stem about 3 feet high; Leaves 8-12 inches long; Spikes 3-6, about their length distant from each other ; Style 2 cleft like L. cynosuroides. In every other particular agreeing Plants around Wilmington, N. C. 137 exactly with L. juncea. Grows abundantly on the sandy beach at the mouth of Cape Fear river. L. juncea has not been found ihere. (47) Orthopogon hirtellum. Calyx 3-4 valved, usually 3, the exterior shortest, with an awn 3 times as long as the flower, second valve half the length of the corol, with an awn equal to the valve, interior one equal to the corol and merely mucronate ; valves , all hairy. Found near the Light House. (48) Pdnicum carindtum, Tor. MS. P. Walteri, Ell! Stem 3 feet high, round, smooth, hollow; Leaves rigid, glabrous, ’ strongly nerved, 8-10 inches long ; Panicle with one-sided spikes, appressed, when old expanding, buds 3-4 flowered ; Cor; valves acute, carinate, com¬ pressed at the summit, keel ciliate at the tip ; exterior valve half the length of the others, ovate, 3 nerved; the other two subequal, lanceolate, 5 nerved ; second valve enclosing the germ : flower; third valve forming with the neutral valve a staminiferous, triandrotis, floret. In the form of its flowers this is closely allied to P. hians. Hab. swamps. Flowers July, August. (49) Panicum scabriusculum, Ell! Leaves 6-18 inches long ; Flowers ovate, acute, glabrous ; accessory valve of the calyx small; proper valves nerved, acute ; neutral valve half the length of the corol, lanceolate; corol oval, smaller than the calyx;—varies in the pube¬ scence of stem, sheaths, and leaves. Hab. Rice fields; flowers June, July. (50) Paspalum plicatulum. The flat valve of the calyx is marked by a longitudinal and a transverse fold in the form of a cross. This' character disappears in drying, and is clearly accidental, though observed in nu- 138 Curtis’s Enumeration of Under P. setaceum is a slender variety, presenting the characters of P. debile, Mx. found on the sandy sea coast, but evidently a stinted P. setaceuiri. Is P. setaceum more than a variety of P. ciliatifolium ? (51) Poa autumnalis, Ell. Very distinct, it appears to me, from P. pungens, Tor. Culm 1-2 feet high, very slender; Leaves 6-10 inches long, 1 line broad, flat, smooth except on the margin towards the summit, 3-5 nerved, slightly glaucous beneath; the upper ones distant and shorter; Sheaths short, smooth; Stipules membranous and lacerate, sometimes wanting; Panicle 3-4 inches, long, slender, branches solitary or the lowest in pairs, erect, scabrous, simply racemed, rarely subdi¬ vided ; Spikelets 1-3 near, the ends erf the branches, pedicelled, 3-5 flowered ; Florets loose, tomentose at base; Calyx glumes acutish, shorter than a floret, supe¬ rior one a third longest, 3 nerved, with a membranous margin; Corol lanceolate, acute, lower valve longest, 5 nerved, acutely carinated, keel ciliated with a conspicuous white pubescence at the base, upper valve membrana¬ ceous, 2 nerved. Hab. damp woods. FI. JMlay. Collected also in South Carolina, and seen in the herbarium, of the Society, in a col¬ lection made around Charleston, S. C. by B. D. Greene, Esq. The panicle and flowers are similar to those of P. pungens, but smaller, and the whole plant more delicate and slender. The peculiar leaves of P. pungens, if in¬ variable, are alone a,sufficient distinction. m (52) Carex xanthophysa. Specimens of this plant collected at Wilmington and in South Carolina differ 1 from the northern plant in being smaller, the scales only half as long as the fruit and without the filiform point. Plants aroimd Wilmington, N. C. 139 (53) Fuirena sguarrosa, Mx. Stem 12-20 inches high, angled, furrowed, hairy at the summit, whole plant very hairy and pubescent when young; Leaves 2-4 inches long, ciliate, pubescent above, smooth beneath; Sheaths short, closed, smooth, the lowest leafless; Scales of the ament-obovate, hairy or pubescent, with 3 central combined nerves extending into an awn from below the summit, which is shorter than the scale, ciliate and re¬ curved ; Setae 3, alternating with (the involucels, about as long as^ the pedicel of the seed; Involucels pedicellate, oval or oblong, unawned, sometimes abruptly acute, longer than the seed; Stamens twice as long as the invo¬ lucels ; Seed triangular, pedicelled, Hab. open swamps. Flowers July—September. This is certainly the aspect of the plant in which Michaux has described it. “ Paleis pistillinis petiolato- spathulatis, muticis; inteijectis totidem setulis brevibus,” Mx- I have not seen it described thus any where else, except in the Encyc. Methodique, “ les ecailles de la corolle oblongues, sans arete.” I have been disposed to consider the plant described by other botanists under this name a distinct species. Specimens collected in Massa¬ chusetts differ as follows: Setae equalling the involucels, hispid; Involucels lanceolate, acuminated into a long awn, acute at base, twice as long as the seed; Stamens longer than the involucels, equal to the style with the stigmas. This is F. hispida, Ell ! Still the plant is so variously described by authors as to excite a doubt if it is not.subject to considerably variety. Our plant, I have never found having an awned invoktcel, in any stage of its growth. (54) Rhynchospora trifiora. Stem 10-18 inches high, setaceous, triangular, leafy .at base, glabrous ; Leaves 140 Curtis’s Enumeration of setaceous, erect, 5-6 inches long, triangular, channeled on the inside towards the base; Sheath about an inch long, closed ; Panicle terminal, with 1-3 pedicelled spike- lets, subtended by an erect leaf about an inch long, which, with a ferruginous, lanceolate bract, resembling the glumes, encloses the bases of the peduncles ; Glumes 6-7, ovate, outer ones smallest and mucronate, containing two flowers, one of them abortive ; Bristles 6, unequal, shorter than the seed, plumose, naked at the summit; Stamens 3, as long as the style; Style 3-4 times longer than the seed; Seed oval, rugose; Tubercle short, conic. Hab. wet savannahs. Flowers April, May. Intermediate between R. rariflora and plumosa. Close¬ ly allied to the former, judging'from the description, but differing at least by the plumose setae, in which it resem¬ bles the latter. (55) Sdrpus simplex. Stem triangular ; Spikes with the aspect of S. tuberculatus; Seed longitudinally striate and regularly punctate between the ridges, presenting a beautiful appearance under a lens. Bristles 6. To these I now add the following new species, not mentioned in the Catalogue. (56) Amorpha cyanostachya. Leaflets oblong, emar- ginate, obtuse at each end, smooth ; Rachis pubescent; Flowers subsessile; Calyx with the margin villous, two of the teeth short, obtuse, and three acuminate, subaris- tate, nearly equal; Vexillum obcordate, more than twice the length of the calyx. Obs. Leaflets 10-15 pairs, 6-9 lines long, 3-4 wide, glandular, occupying the petiole nearly to the stem. Flowers blue, darker at the summit of the vexillum, and becoming lighter towards the base. This species is dis- 141 Economy of Hispa. tinguished from A. furticosa, by its different colored flowers ; shorter pedicels ; spikes shorter, more pubescent, and less attenuated ; a calyx at base ; shorter stamens : and smaller and more numerous leaflets. ART. IX.—UPON THE ECONOMY OP SOME AMERICAN SPECIES OF HISPA. By T. W. Harris, M. D. Read Feb. IS, 1835. It is the peculiar province of the naturalist to investi¬ gate the habits and economy of animals. The discovery of these does infinitely more towards the advancement of a science founded wholly upon observation, than the mere description of new species. This is more especially true in entomology, in which, such has been the cupidity and vanity of collectors, that the legitimate objects of the science, the habits, uses, and stations of insects in the system of nature, have been neglected for the acquisition and description of species, the indication of new genera, and the coining of an immense number of new and pedan- overburdened. If the foregoing remarks be founded in fact, no apology will be necessary for the appearance of the present paper in the pages of this journal. Hitherto the larva and pupa of Hispa, and their man¬ ner iff living, have been unknown ; after they have been described, it will remain for the makers of systems to assign to this genus of insects its proper place. Mr. Kirby; in treatmg of that fanciful theory abound¬ ing in bard names, the supposed analogy or correspond¬ ence between the forms of larvae and those of other ani- vol. i .—part ii. 19 142 Harris upon the Economy of some mals, says that u Gassida seems to belong to a peculiar type that “ at present he knows of no analogous form amongst the apterous tribes, and must therefore leave this without a denomination and that “ perhaps the larva of Hispa or Alumus, when known, will throw light upon this subject.” * The larva of Hispa has not the most distant resemblance to that of Cassida, or to any other now known among., the genera with .which it has been arti¬ ficially associated. So far as mere form is concerned, it is related to the wood-eating larvae of the Capricorn beetles, particularly of the genus Callidium ; while its habits are those of the leaf-mining caterpillars,of certain moths. Towards the end of July, 1820,1 perceived upon an apple-tree several leaves which had large brownish spots upon them. These spots were not occasioned by dis¬ ease, but by the destruction of the internal pulpy sub¬ stance or parenchyma of the leaf, while the cuticle or skirt, both above and below, remained entire. When a leaf was held between the eye and the light, there could be seen, through the discolored but semi-transparent cuti¬ cle, a little whitish flattened grub, which had devoured the parenchyma, and lay enclosed in the cavity thus formed between the two layers of skip. On being dis¬ turbed, this insect moved with a wriggling motion from one part of its retreat to another, backwards quite as readily as forwards. The shape of the spots was irregu¬ lar, and they varied somewhat in size; but on an average each one might have been about an inch square. Several leaves containing larvae, among which was one that had already passed into the pupa or chrysalis state, were shut * Kirby & Spence, In American species of Hispa. 143 up in a box. Soon afterwards the insects passed through their transformation, and, leaving the castoff pupa-skin nearly entire, within the cavities which they had occu¬ pied, they made irregular perforations through the dried cuticle, and came out upon the surface of the leaves. The insects, thus disclosed in the perfect or winged state, proved to be little beetles belonging to the genus Hispa ; but as they were subsequently lost, it is not in my power positively to identify them with any of the species now in my collection. In June, 1827, I discovered a leaf of the poplar-tree which contained a small dead larva, very closely resem¬ bling that of the Hispa of the apple-tree ; but it was not till the 17th of July, 1829, that an opportunity of ob¬ serving in detail the habits of these insects again pre¬ sented itself. Upon this day I found larvae, like those of the apple-tree, feeding, in the same manner, upon the parenchyma of the leaves of the white oak. Each one of these insects, when fully grown, measured from 20 to 27 hundredths of an inch in length. [Fig. 1.] -p. ^ . The head was horny and of a brownish *■ - 1 ®’ black color; the body, cousisting of 11 w segments, flattened and broad near the head, gradually narrower behind, was yel- ^ lowish white, except the greater part of the I y-ir f upper side of the first segment, a spot in , the middle of the under side of the same, and the upper part of the tip of the last fcjT segnient, which were dark brown or nearly black. The head was small in proportion to the size of the first segment, and partially drawn within it. Minute antennae were perceptible, and the jaws were short, angular, and simple, or scarcely in- 144 dented within. The legs were six, short, and of a brown color, a pair beneath the first, second, and third segments. The other segments, were dilated at the sides, and ter¬ minated by small brown tubercles. Above these lateral mammillary projections ivas -m series of 7 smaller ones each bearing a spiracle or aperture for respiration. The second segment, at the sides, near its anterior edge, was furnished with two large spiracles, and two, still larger, were situated upon the upper part of the terminal seg¬ ment, near its tip. The fourth and remaining segments, except the last, had, both above and below, a transverse callous spot, covered with minute projections like a rasp, which appeared to be designed to aid the insect in its motions. On the fifth of' August five of these larvae were trans¬ formed to pupae, four of which assumed the perfect state on the eleventh, and the fifth on the twelfth of the same month ; from which it appears that the pupa state lasts only tjetween six and seven days. The color of the pupa was of a yellowish white, but, as it approached the period of its final change, the body became reddish, and the wing-sheaths brown. Its body was rather shorter and broader than that of the larva ; the abdominal segments were tuberculated at the sides, and were furnished, both above and beneath, in the centre of each segment, with a transverse series of elevations, much larger and more prominent than those of the larva, and tipped with Short bristles. The sheaths of the wings and legs were folded on the breast, and those of die antennae under the lateral margins of the first and second segments. When disturbed, the pupa moved about in its habitation, by means of the rasps upon its body which served instead of feet. This insect, in its perfect form, resembles Hispa rosea 146 Harris upon the Economy of some red lines, and the furrows between them have double series of large transverse punctures. The body beneath except at the sides, is black, and the feet are testaceous yellow. Variety, (H* querdfolue). Testaceous or ochreous yellow ; sides of the thorax, two lines on the disk, and about eleven short lines on the elevated ridges and mar¬ gins of the elytra blackish red. Body beneath testace¬ ous ; feet pale ochreous yellow. Differs from the H. rdsea in being paler, with much darker lines., The anterior margin of the thorax is im¬ maculate ; the dorsal dines are as deeply colored as the sides ; and the breast and abdomen are not black. Towards the end of July, 1829,1 discovered some lar¬ vae within the leaves pf the Robinia pseudocode, which differed in appearance so much from those of the oak leaf that I had no doubt of their belonging to different species. In form they were more elongated and not so much depressed ; the body was not so broad before, and the lateral tubercles were more acuminated and directed backwards, so as to give the sides of the body a serrated appearance. In other respects they agreed with the pre- The pupae [Fig. 2.] were exceedingly active, and moved about, when disturbed in their cavities, backwards and forwards, by an upward and downward action of the abdominal segments. The pupa state T lasted seven days, and on the twelfth of | August I had the pleasure of seeing the perfect insects in the box in which they had been raised. They proved to be the Hispa suturalis of Fabrieius, which may be thus described. [Fig. 2.] 147 American species of Hispa. Hispa suturalis. Thorax and elytra dusky orange or tawny yellow ; the latter with a black sutural line widen¬ ing towards the tip : head, antennae, body and legs black. Length from 25 to 28 hundredths of an inch. Thorax rough, with deep and dense punctures ; scutel black, impunctured; elytra rounded behind and serrated; the suture, lateral margin, and three longitudinal lines elevated; the vestige of another elevated line behind the middle within the submarginal line ; furrows with double rows of deep, transverse punctures, separated by slender longitudinal lines. On the 14th of July, 1833,1 found full grown larvae of a Hispa in the leaves of Solidago fcevigata, a plant abounding upon the margins of our salt marshes, where I was led to look for these larvae in consequence of having discovered Hispa vittata, in the perfect state, in the axils of the leaves, during the month of Septem¬ ber, 1832. These larvae [Fig. 3.] mea- p. ^ ■, sured 40 hundredths of an inch in length : they were more elongated than the two preceding species, more acuminated before and behind, and the lateral tubercles were much more prominent. The body was whitish, the head and feet dusky or black¬ ish ; the disk of the first or thoracic seg¬ ment was marked with a transversely oval brown spot, near the anterior part of which were two black dots. The last segment was brownish above. The sides of the rings were prominent, tooth¬ like, pointing backwards, and tipped with small, acumi¬ nated black points on the sides of each segment except the first, third, and last. There were tubercular rasps on the body as in other species. The pupae bore a gen- 148 Harris upon the Economy of some eral resemblance to those of Hi spa suturalis, and in the course of about a week disclosed the Hispa vittata of Fabrieius. This species, as has been remarked by Mr. Say,* varies much in its colors; but it may generally be recognised by the following description. Hispa vittata. Greenish black, bronzed: thorax and a longitudinal stripe on each elytron of a dull red or ru¬ fous color. Length from 24 to 29 hundredths of an inch. Thorax punctured, the disk sometimes brassy black ; elytra striato-punctate in a double series, rounded behind, the outer margin entire and slightly rufous. Body gen¬ erally greenish black, sometimes very dark steel blue or bluish black. This insect I first saw on the marsh golden-rod, in Sep¬ tember, 1829; again in September, 1832, in great num¬ bers in the axils of the leaves of the same plant; and, upon the tenth of June, 1834, 1 found it celebrating' its nuptills, and discovered on the leaves of the plants, frequented by it, little black grains which, I presume, were the eggs of the insect. These granular bodies were about 7 hundredths of an inch long, somewhat elliptical, flattened upon the side which was glued to the leaf, and covered upon the rest of the surface with a rough, black substance. They were in clusters of four or five, placed side by side, and adhered closely to¬ gether, and to the leaf on which they were fixed. Upon tfe leaves of the plants inhabited by the other species of Hispa, I have often observed somewhat similar eggs, not however in clusters, but placed singly,, and of a more 149 American species of Hispa. irregular or angulated shape. Never having traced the development of these eggs, I cannot positively affirm them to belong to the Hispae, though I have but little doubt on the subject. I am, by no means, certain whether or how the Hispae pass the winter, but presume that they* bybernate, in the perfect state, among the roots of herbage; for there does not seem to be more than one brood in the season, and the perfect insects of the different species appear, at their proper times, during the spring or summer, before the larvae are to be found. It may be well to remark, that the habits of these insects, in their natural state, are pre¬ cisely the same as those which they exhibit when reared in confinement, and that I have repeatedly observed larvae, pupae, and perfect insects within the subcutaneous retreats where they pass through all their transformations, and which they leave only'when they are about to pro¬ vide for a continuation of their race. Secure as they may seem to be, while in the larva state, they are not without their enemies; for a small Ichneumon is endued with the faculty of discovering them, and is furnished with a long piercer w ith which it perforates the cuticle of the leaf and the skin of their tender bodies, into which it conveys its eggs, committing only one to a single larva. The grub hatched from the egg of this parasitic insect lives within the body of its victim, which has barely sufficient strength to undergo the change to a pupa, when it dies, exhausted by the remorseless gnawings of its intestine foe. The latter completes, in a few days, its own transformations within the empty pupa-skin of the Hispa, from which it eventual ally emerges in the winged state. Those which I ob¬ tained came out during the month of August, 1829, from 150 Economy of the Hispa. the pupae of Hispa rosea 1 (quercifoUa) and H. st cturalis. The following description will serve to identify this parasitic insect. * Ichneumon Hispa. Black, polished; abdomen, above, rough .with deep confluent punctures ; piercer as long as the abdomen; legs honey yellow/the hinder tibiae apd tarsi white,, annulated with black ; wings trans¬ parent, with a black carpal spot. Length of the body to the base of the piercer, 29 hundredths of an inch. Expansion of the wings 59 hundredths of an inch*. The body of this species is black and highly polished ; the antennae and piercer, however, though black, are opaque. The abdomen is slender, almost sessile, densely punctured above, and with impunctured incisures, and the first segment is deeply concave before; The upper side of the anterior and intermediate tarsi are sometimes dusky. The hindmost tibi® are white, with a broad, black ring at both extremities. The ‘1st, 2d, and 3d of the hindmost tarsal joints are tipped with black, and the two last joints are entirely black above. The Baron DeGeer, in the 5th volume of his “ Me- moires pour servir a l’histoire des Insectes,” * has f given an account of the proceedings of “ some kinds of larvs, whose transformations are unknown, but which appear to belong to the class of coleopterous insects.” Two of these larv®, in size, form, and habits, are much like those of Hispa; his insects, however, left the leaves where they had been feeding, went into the earth, and there perished without completing their transformations. Un- 8 e Mcmoire, page 402, Ac. plate XII. figmee 1S-20. 151 Say's Descriptions , &fc. fortunately, no person has thought proper to follow up the observations of DeGeer upon the subcutaneous larvae of the European alder and elm, and consequently the history of these interesting insects remains imperfect. ART. X.—DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW NORTH AMERICAN COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS, AND OBSERVATIONS ON SOME ALREADY DESCRIBED. By Thomas Sat. Com- municated Feb. 1835. In this number, we present to our readers a part of the hitherto unpublished entomological papers of the late Thomas Say. This distinguished and lamented Ameri¬ can naturalist was engaged in preparing them for pub¬ lication in the Boston Journal of Natural History, when his labors were prematurely arrested by the disease which proved fatal to him, on the tenth of October 1834. In justice to his memory, it becomes our duty, without delay, to publish these posthumous papers, and thereby to secure to his games, as far as possible, the right of priority. These papers consist of descriptions of new American Coleopterous and Hymenopterous insects, and remarks upon some already described. The Hymenoptera will appear in our next number. (Pub. Com.) jL Brachinus, Weber. B. altemans ? Dej. A specimen occurred near New Orleans, which, so far as I have been able to compare 152 Say’s Descriptions of new the Characters, nearly corresponds with this species ; but as the head is deficient in the specimen, I cannot deter¬ mine positively; and, furthermore, the circumstance of the 2d and 4th elytral costae not being obviously ele¬ vated, leads to a doubt. Sandamjs, Knoch. 1. S . petrophya, Knoch: ' I observed this insect, fre¬ quently, on the flowers of a resinous plant common in the prairies of Missouri. 2. S. ? brunneus. Blackish-brown; antennae sericeous- brown ; thorax with two indentations on the disk. Inhabits Indiana. Body blackish-brown, punctured, oblong: head with small punctures, rather prominent between the antennae, above which it is somewhat indented: antenna as long as the thorax or rather longer, brown sericeous: thorax with small punctures, anterior and posterior angles denti¬ form ; disk with a small orbicular indentation each side behind the middle, and an irregular one on the basal middle; posterior margin each side of the middle a little concave: scutel orbicular: elytra with numerous some¬ what large punctures, not in striae, with four slightly elevated lines or nervures, the inner one abbreviated be¬ fore the tip, the others confluent near the tips. Length from two fifths to three fifths of an inch. This insect approaches, in character, nearer to Sanda- lus than to any other genus. In that genus the mandi¬ bles are remarkably falcate, and the tooth is on the inner side, towards the base; they are also covered to the mid¬ dle by a membrane or coriaceous process; the tibiae are quadrilateral and denticulate, and the tarsi beneath, are North American Coleopterous bisects. 153 clothed with very dense hairs. In our insect the con¬ formation of the antennse is the same as in the female of Sandalus, excepting that they are much more elongated; the mandibles are less prominent, and have the tooth on the superior side near the tip, which is therefore emar- ginate, or rather bifid, and are destitute of any membran¬ ous covering at base; the tibiae' are not quadrangular, the tarsi are simple beneath, and the mentum is somewhat transversely oval, with a robust dentiform process before. It can be separated under the name of Zenoa. I have found it under the bark of decaying trees. Vid. Gen. Analestes, Leach, or Cebrio. Probably G. Incolor, but it does not appear to agree with Fabricius’s description. Lycus, Fabr. 1. L. modestus. Black; Thorax fulvous, with a black disk. Inhab. Ohio. Body black, opake: antenna, second joint minute, nearly half the size of the third: mandibles 1 rufous : palpi, terminal joint rather oval than securiform: thorax broader than long, as wide as the base of the elytra, red- dish-fulvous, with a black disk extending to the base, disk a little convex, without any carinate line, each side a little concave, lateral edge nearly rectilinear, the posterior angles not excurved, and not very acute at tip, anterior^ edge regularly arcuated: elytra black, with elevated^ longitudinal lines, and in the intervening spaces are nu¬ merous transverse, elevated lines, and a small longitudinalg one ; wings black, tinged with rufous on the costal base. 154 Say’s Descriptions of new The insect was lost before the measure of its length was taken. 2. L. obliquus. Black; margin of the thorax and basal margin of the elytra fulvous. Inhab. Mexico. Body rather slender, black ; antenna compressed, serrate : palpi white, terminal joint black: thorax with a wide lateral fulvous margin and an elevated fulvous line in the middle, posterior angles rather prominent and acute; elytra with elevated longitudinal lines and trans¬ verse ones in the intervening spaces, forming large sub- quadrate punctures; a dilated fulvous margin at base, occupying the surface to the sutural stria, before the middle becoming narrower until it terminates on the costal edge beyond the middle: coxa white. Length seven twentieths of an inch. Allied to dimidiatus, Fabr. but the antennae are not flabellate. 3. L. canaliculdtus. Black; thorax with a yellowish margin and an impressed line on the basal margin. Inhab. Missouri. Mandibles pale; antenna serrate, third joint rather shorter than the fourth; thorax yellowish-rufous, a large, black, subquadrate spot ou the disk, anterior edge very prominently arcuated; basal margin with an abbreviated impressed longitudinal groove : elytra with elevated lon¬ gitudinal lines and intermediate transverse ones. Length one fourth of an inch. Omalisus, Geofir. F. 1.0. marginellus , Fabr. (Lycus) Syst. Eleuth. Inhab. Pennsylvania; Massachusetts, Harris. North American Coleopte 2. O. coccimtus. Sanguineous; head and beneath black. Inhab. Pennsylvania and Indiana. , Body sanguineous; head black ; mandibles pale red¬ dish ; thorax darker than the elytra, its depressions dusky ; two longitudinal elevated lines, distant in the middle, and meeting on the anterior and posterior edges of the thorax, enclosing a rhomboidal space; from their middle an elevated line proceeds to the lateral, edge ; the margin elevated: scutel blackish : elytra with four elevated lines; interstitial spaces with a longitudipal slightly elevated line, and transverse ones about the dis¬ tance of their own length from each other; wings black¬ ish : beneath black. Length over two fifths of an inch. 3. O. mundus. Bright sanguineous; antenna black. Inhab. Indiana. Body entirely bright sanguineous: antenna, excepting the three basal joints, black: eyes black: thorax with two longitudinal elevated lines, distant in the middle and meeting before the anterior and posterior edges of the thorax, enclosing a rhomboidal space ; from their middle an elevated line passes to the lateral edge, and an ele¬ vated abbreviated line on the posterior submargin: elytra with four elevated lines *, interstitial spaces with a longi¬ tudinal, very slightly elevated line, and transverse ones, about the distance of their own length apart; venter black: tarsi dusky. Length (me fourth of an inch. Much like the preceding, but is only half as large, and its colors are differently arranged. 4. O. humeralis, F. (Lycus.) Syst. Eleuth. 156 Say’s Descriptions of new Inhabits also Indiana; Massachusetts, Harris. It varies in having the humeral margin obsolete. 5. O. se&lptilis. Piceous; thorax with elevated lines, yellowish each side. O. pleurites ? Knoch. in Melsh. Catal. Inhab. Missouri and Pennsylvania. Antenna black, second joint minute; third joint as long as the others: head black; clypeus anteriorly a little produced, impressed in the middle; thorax with three elevated, parallel lines before the middle, and two behind the middle, a lateral somewhat oblique line pro¬ ceeding to the lateral edge, which is obtusely a little contracted in that part: elytra with four elevated lines, interstitial spaces with transverse, elevated, somewhat irregular lines, nearer to each other than their own length. j Length about one fourth of an inch. 6. O. obliquus. Black ; base of the elytra and each side of the thorax yellowish. Inhabits Indiana. Body black : antenna, second joint more than half as long as the third : front tinged with ferruginous: thorax reddish-yellow, with elevated lines enclosing a turbinate space in the middle, with an elevated line extending from its centre to the anterior edge, and an oblique one each side, extending to the lateral edge ; edge elevated; disk black, extending to the base : elytra reddish-yellow on the basal half, terminated obliquely at the middle; elevated longitudinal lines and intermediate transverse ones; a quadrate black spot, including the black scutel. Length less than two fifths of an inch. . North American Coleopterous Insects. 157 Phengodes, Hoffm. P. plumosa, Oliv. P. testaceus, Leach, Zool. Journ. 1824. Not uncommon for a short period in the autumn. At¬ tracted by the candle, they enter the house in the even¬ ing, and fly repeatedly against the ceiling in their efforts to escape.' Lampyris, Lin. 1. L. trilineata. Grayish-brown ; elytra with the margin and three lines yellowish. Inhab. Mexico. Head on the front, pale catneous or yellowish : anten¬ na black-cinereous, basal joint whitish: thorax varied with dull yellowish, blackish and rosaceous, sometimes a blackish vitta trilobate at base, and a lateral marginal spot: scutel blackish: elytra gray-brown, the edge and sometimes the margin all around, and two or three lines on each elytron, yellowish: beneath blackish, generally varied with rosaceous and yellowish. Length over half an inch. Var. a. An oblong-subquadrate, marginal, yellowish spot behind the humerus. A large species, wider and shorter than L. verskolor , Fabr. which it somewhat resembles in the character of the elytra, as it does L. angulata, Nob. in that of the thorax. 2. L. bifaria. Antennae with two processes from the base of each joint. Inhab. North Carolina, Harris. Body black, densely punctured : head with a carinate 158 Say’s Descriptions of new line: antenna, at the base of each joint, excepting the first, second and ultimate ones, with two, opposite pro¬ cesses at least as lotig as the joint and nearly as thick: thorax fulvous, with a dilated black vitta not reaching the anterior edge ; an impressed line ; elytra confluently punctured, appearing granulated. Length nearly seven twentieths of an inch. Remarkable by the form of the antennae. ' ^ Canthams, Lin. 1. C. tricostatus. Elytra widened and rounded later¬ ally, with three elevated lines. Inhabits Pennsylvania; Massachusetts, Harris. Body black, with small dull yellowish hairs: head piceous at base ; front yellow, oral margin blackish ; be¬ fore the eyes and base of the mandibles yellow : anten¬ na, second joint nearly equal to the third, which is obvi¬ ously shorter than the following ones: maxillary palpi much longer than the labials, black: thorax transverse, yellow ; disk fuscous ; each side widely concave ; ante¬ riorly widely truncate ; posteriorly widely emarginate : elytra laterally roundedly dilated ; three prominent lines ; humerus prominent: feet dark piceous; knees paler. Length nearly half an inch. Var. Thoracic margin rufous ; front obscure. The width of the elytra and the form of the elevated lines, are like some species of Lampyris; but although the palpi are very unequal, yet those of the maxills are 2. C. invalida. Blackish ; sides of the front of the thorax, and margins of the elytra, yellowish. Inbab. Indiana. * Insects. North American Coleopterous Body brown-black, covered with short hairs: head each side beneath the antennae yellowish: mandibles yel¬ lowish at base : antenna, first and second joints yellow¬ ish beneath : thorax margined, black, each side yellow¬ ish ; disk rather unequal: elytra rather rough irregularly, with three or four obsolete nervures ; base of the exterior margin of the suture and .elevated humerus, yellowish : pectus each side and before, yellow: venter, segments laterally margined with yellow. Length less than one fourth of an inch. Var. a. Margin and suture of the elytra yellowish to the tip. It differs from rufipes,. Nob. and scttula, Nob. in being more robust and hairy; from angulata, Nob., which it most resembles, by the entirely black feet, yel¬ lowish humerus and basal elytral margins, yellow lateral ventral margins, somewhat more dilated terminal joints of the palpi, See. 3. C. peredmis. Black, thorax rufous, immaculate. Inhabits Massachusetts, Harris. Body black, somewhat polished: antenna with the basal joint tinged with piceous; second joint less than one third the length of the third, which is a little shorter than the fourth: thorax transversely oval, bright rufous, the edge a little elevated and dusky: elytra with a slightly uneven appearance, not amounting to punctures or gran¬ ulations. Length nearly one fifth of an, inch. I have seen but one specimen which was presented to me by Dr. Harris. 4. C. bidentata, Nob. Joum. A. N. S. may prove to be a Silis, Meg. but as my specimen is imperfect, I can¬ not determine. 160 Say’s Descriptions of new Malthinus. M. margindtis, Nob. (Molorchus) Joum. A. N. S. 1824, read to the Society the preceding year. Malthinus latipennis 1 Germar Spec. Novae, p. 72. 1824. Dasytes, Payk. Fabr. To this genus, as I now understand it, belong several species, which I published under the genus Malachius; such as terminalis , Nob., &c. Tillus, Fab. T.? termindtus . Black; terminal joint of the antennae as long as the head and thorax. Inhab. United States. Body black, densely punctured and with numerous cinereous hairs : eyes reniform, emargination very pro¬ found : antenna, radical joint suboval; second joint globular ; 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th very short, transverse, approximated; 7th, 8th and 9th rather larger, serrate; terminal one greatly elongated, longer than the head and thorax, and about three times as long as all the preced¬ ing joints conjunctly, much compressed, linear, with dense minute black hairs, tip and base rounded : labrum rounded at tip: mandibles bifid at tip: thorax cylindrical, hardly narrowed at base, margin rufous : tarsi distinctly five articulate; first joint longer than the second ; penul¬ timate one bilobate : nails dentated : abdomen sanguine¬ ous ; terminal segment black. Length rather more than one fourth of an inch. 1 obtained two specimens of this curious insect, at the North American Coleopterous Insects. 161 cantonment of Major Long’s party near Council Bluff on the Missouri river. It occurs also in Indiana and Penn¬ sylvania. By the form of the tarsi, palpi and thorax, it approaches the present genus ; but the extraordinary conformation of the antennae seems to require a separation from the other species, at least in a distinct subgenus. It varies in having the rufous thoracic margin very narrow, and even interrupted on the lateral margin. Pkiocera, Kirby. P. inomata. Black-piceous ; antennae and palpi yel¬ lowish ; maxillary palpi with the last joint rather small. . Inhab. Indiana. Body elongated, blackish-piceous, with pale hairs, punctured : head, punctures somewhat confluent, so as to present a rather granulated appearance : antenna honey- yellow, terminal joint hardly larger than the preceding one: labrum piceous, obtusely emarginate : mandibles piceous at base: maxillary palpi with the terminal joint small: thorax with an obtuse tubercle each side of the middle, on which is an indentation ; an impressed, trans¬ verse line before the middle and a contraction behind the middle ; an indentation on the basal margin ; punctures not profound, transversely confluent: elytra with deeply punctured striae : coxa and tarsi honey-yellow. Length two fifths of an inch. This species agrees with all the characters of the pre¬ sent genus, as laid down by Kirby* with the exception of the magnitude of the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi, which is much smaller than that of the type of the genus. It is rare. 162 Say’s Descriptions of new To this genus, which was separated from Tillus by- Kirby, the following species appear to belong. Tillus bicolor, Nob. Joum. A. N. S. vol. 5, p. 174. Tillus undulatus, Nob. ibid. p. 174. Clerus, Fab. 1. C. quadrisignatus. Posterior two thirds of the elytra black, with two broad whitish bands. Inhabits North Carolina. Harris. Body rufous, somewhat hairy : antenna black : palpi rufous, dusky at base: thorax with an angulated im¬ pressed line: elytra black, basal third rufous ; a broad yellowish-white band on the middle and a narrower one near the tip ; more obviously and densely punctured at base: feet black. Length two fifths of an inch. Very different from C. ichneumonens, F. and trifascia- tus, S. by the bands of the elytra. The middle one of the latter is rufous or fulvous, and of the former black, and as long as wide, whilst in the present species the middle band is not so long as the width of the elytra, and the posterior band is at least half its size and of the same color. 2. C. sanguineus. Elytra sanguineoushead and thorax dusky. Inhabits United States. Body dark piceous: antemia, terminal joint paler: thorax with a longitudinal dorsal, and lateral rounded indentations: scutel dark piceous: elytra with numerous, obvious, profound, irregularly disposed punctures : venter and feet somewhat paler* Length about one fifth of an inch. North American Coleopterous Insects. 163 Found in most parts of the Union. Dr. Harris sent me an individual from Massachusetts. 3. C. oculatus. Thorax and margin of the elytra yellowish, the former with two black dots. Inhabits Massachusetts. Mead black : antennae yellowish: thorax yellowish, cylindrical, with a black dot on each side of the middle : elytra black, with the suture, exterior and terminal mar¬ gins yellowish ; regular series of large punctures: feet yellowish. Length over one fifth of an inch. Sent to me for examination by Dr. Harris. 4. C. undatvlus. Elytra black, with a zigzag cinere¬ ous band near the middle, and a simple one behind. Inhabits New Hampshire. Body sanguineous, punctured, hairy: head blackish; labrum, antennae and palpi rufous : thorax with an angu- lated, deeply impressed line on the anterior submargin ; anterior margin blackish : elytra black, with a very small rufous portion at base ; before the middle a deeply zigzag narrow cinereous band in the form of a W, the middle angle pointing anteriorly, wider on the lateral margin; anterior to the band are large punctures in regular striae; posterior band broader, cinereous, not undulated : post- pectus with a black middle. Length one fifth of an inch. May be distinguished from nigrifrons, S. and nigripes, S. by the intermediate angle of the anterior band point¬ ing forward, and from dubim, F., which it closely resem¬ bles, by its blackish head, middle of the postpectus, and by the form of the posterior band, which is not undulated as in that species. It was sent to me for examination by Dr. Harris. 164 Say's Descriptions of new 5. C. humeralis. S. Joum. Acad. Nat. Sc. vol. 3, pt. 1, 1823. C. humeralis, Germar, Sp. Novae. 1824. Tbichodes, Fab. 1. T. Nuttalli, Kirby, Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. 12. T. apivorus, Germar. Sp. Novae, p. 81. It has also received a name in Dejean’s Catalogue. 2. T. verticdlis. Blackish ; head yellow, with a black vitta; feet and base of the elytra yellowish. Inhabits United States. Blackish, somewhat bronzed: head yellowish, with a black vitta on the vertex: thorax somewhat cylindric 1 , a little larger in the middle : elytra shorter than the abdo¬ men, not meeting at the suture, a little narrowed to the tip, which is rounded, densely and irregularly punctured, punctures rather large; a large, yellowish spot extends from the base nearly to the middle: feet yellowish. Length three twentieths of an inch. Var. os, teilHlus. Thorax dusky : elytra entirely pale yellowish white, at tip only a little dusky. Var. (?. Thorax with a lateral abbreviated vitta on the anterior margin: spot of the elytra slender, and nearer the suture. Dr. Harris sent me a specimen from Massachusetts. I have obtained it on the common Hickory (Carya) in June. Enoplium, Latr. 1. E. laticomis. Black; front and each side of the thorax fulvous. 165 North American Coleopterous Insects. Inhabits North Carolina. Body black, punctured: head fulvous: mouth , eyes and antenna black; the latter, with the three ultimate joints as broad as long, subquadrate, narrowed at base, the last one- oval: thorax fulvous, of nearly equal width; a transverse rectilineal', indented line on the anterior sub¬ margin, and indented points each side: elytra with regu¬ lar striae of large punctures, much wider than the inter¬ stitial lines. Length less than one fourth of an inch. The only specimen I have seen was sent to me by Dr. Harris for examination. 2. E. damicdme, F. (Tillus.) In his description Fabricius says, “ Antennarum articulis duobus ultimis dilato-compressis, acutis,” but there are, of course, three dilated ultimate joints. Ptinus, L. P. humerdlis. Reddish-brown ; thorax quadrituber- culate ; elytra with two bands widely interrupted by the suture. Inhabits Pennsylvania ; Massachusetts, Harris. Head pale reddish-brown, with incumbent pale ferru¬ ginous hair; vertex glabrous: thorax reddish-brown, with incumbent, pale ferruginous hair; an acute, elevated tubercle on each side, and two longitudinal obtuse ones on the disk, separated by a groove: scttiel with prostrate, cinereous hair : elytra dark reddish-brown, somewhat paler at base, with rather rigid elevated hairs and regular striae of rather large, impressed punctures; two remote whitish bands interrupted at the suture. Very closely allied to P. fur , F., but the body is less 166 Say’s Descriptions of new rounded ; the punctures of the elytra are smaller, and thoracic groove less profound. Dorcatoma, Herbst. * D. stmilis. Rounded, blackish; head dark piceous ; elytra with two striae and a half* Inhabits North Carolina, Harris. Body rounded, very little oval, convex, punctured; with short, yellowish hairs: antenna dull rufous; not very robust; basal joint piceous ; antepenultimate joint extending inwards into a conic process and exhibiting the form of an equilateral triangle, shorter than the pre¬ ceding part of the antennae; two ultimate joints equal: elytra with three lateral striae, of which the superior one is half the length ; humerus elevated, compressed, acute. Length less than one tenth of an inch. The D. bicolor , Germar, has a sanguineous thorax, and the oculata, S. is larger, its antennae more robust, and the terminal joint arcuated. Hvlecoitus, Latr. IT. lugubris. Elytra and postpectus black; abdomen and feet honey-yellow. Inhab. Indiana. $ Body punctured, with short hairs: labrum tinged with piceous : antenna , third joint obscure > yellowish : vertex with a glabrous line: thorax with an indented line and a little unequal each side: scutel glabrous and carinate in the middle: elytra with slightly elevated lines: wings dusky, nervures black: beneath black: feet and abdo¬ men honey-yellow. North American Coleopterous Insects. 167 Length from two fifths to nearly half an inch. 9 Head rufous: antenna black, three basal joints yel¬ lowish i ihorax and pectus rufous. Var. «. Elytra dull, yellowish on the basal half. I observed it in considerable numbers, on the 16th of April, flying about a prostrate sugar maple, and running briskly upon it. It is infested by a species of Gamasus. Cupes, Fabr. 1. C.cinerea. Brownish-cinereous; elytra with fuscous spots and undulations. Inhabits Indiana, Ohio, and Louisiana. Body pale brownish-cinereous: head on each side above the eyes, with a series of three tubercles, of which the posterior one is convex, the middle one is most prominent and acute, and the anterior one is at the supe¬ rior base of the antennae : eyes prominent, black, polish¬ ed : antenna nearly as long as the body, robust: thorax with a carinate line on the middle, widely impressed each side, and with four indentations on the anterior mar¬ gin ; anterior angles emarginate: elytra with elevated lines and intervening series of large regular punctures, several abbreviated dark reddish-brown lines and spots which form about three undulated bands, of which one is near the base, one on the middle, and one near the tip : venter paler, somewhat testaceous. Length over seven twentieths of an inch. This is the second species, of this rare genus, that has yet been discovered ; I obtained numerous specimens in the vicinity of New Harmony, Indiana, and one near Springfield, Ohio, and the specimen from Mr. Barabino proves that it inhabits a considerable portion of the 168 Say’s Descriptions of new Union. The species is widely different from the capi - tata, which I have not found in this region. [The following description, of the foregoing species, was found among Mr. Say’s papers, and, as it contains some particulars not noticed above, we have thought proper to insert it in this place. Pub. Com.] C. cinerea. Cinereous; elytra with abbreviated blackish lines. Inhabits Indiana. Body cinereous, covered with minute scales: head in¬ equal : thorax inequal, anterior angles not excurved: ely¬ tra with largely punctured striae, the interstitial lines convex, subequal, the alternate ones a little larger; numerous abbreviated fuscous or blackish lines, hardly to be traced into three or four very oblique bands. Length seven twentieths to two fifths of an inch. A larger species than the capitdta, Fabr. and very distinct, though the inequalities of the head and thorax are somewhat similar. It is common about old frame houses. I have received a specimen from Mr. Bara- bino. S. cauddta. S. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. 1823. S. tuberculata, Germar, Sp. Novae. 1824. Ips, Fabr. 1. I. obtusa. Black; elytra each with two nearly orbicular rufous spots. I. 4-notata ? Melsh. Catal. Body oval, convex: antenna piceous: head and tho- North American Coleopterous Insects. 169 rax with small, regular, subequidistant punptures : elytra punctured, regularly rounded at tip, and rounded at the sutural angle ; slightly elevated transversely on the poste¬ rior margin; each elytron with two rufous, rounded spots, of which one is at the middle of the base, and the other beyond the middle of the'elytron; beneath piceous black. Length from three tenths to seven twentieths of an inch. The largest species I have seen; the name 4 -notata is preoccupied. 2. I. 4 -signata, Black; elytra each with two yel¬ lowish spots, of which the basal one is sublunate* I. 4-signata Melsh. Catal. Body oval, deep black: antenna piceous: head and thorax with small, regular, subequidistant punctures : ely¬ tra punctured, very obtusely rounded at tip, almost trun¬ cate; each elytron with two yellowish spots, slightly tinged with rufous; the basal one arcuated so as to enclose the humerus; posterior one behind the middle trans- versly oval, not sinuated; terminal lateral margin ob¬ scurely piceous: beneath piceous-blackish. Length slightly more than one fifth of an inch. Very similar to the Nitidula fasddta Oliv. but it may be distinguished by its uniformly smaller spots. The Engis conjluenta Nob. strictly belongs to this genus, as well as the Nitidula fasciata and sanguinolenta of Olivier. 3. I. 4 -maculata. Black ; elytra with a basal and ter¬ minal ferruginous spot. I. 4-maculata Melsh. Catal. Body black, polished, oblong-oval, punctured: clypeus t at tip, tinged with piceous; antenna piceous: elytra .170 Say’s Descriptions of new with a large ferruginous spot at the middle of the base, and another somewhat longer one at the tip of each: feet and tip of the venter rufouS. Length more than one tenth of an inch. 4. I. vittata. Blackish-brown ; elytra with whitish, abbreviated vittse. Inhabits Arkansaw. Body dark-brownish : elytra with a whitish vitta ab¬ breviated beyond the middle and abruptly curved at base towards the scutel; another much abbreviated, somewhat oblique one, hardly reaching the middle of the hume¬ rus, and an intermediate one hardly more than one fourth of the length of the elytra ; tip obliquely truncated. Length less than three twentieths of an inch. This species was presented to me by Mr. Nuttall, who obtained it during his expedition to Arkansaw. Hydrophilus, Fabr. H. castus. Oblong-oval, black; palpi rufous ; thorax with an oblique line each side before. Inhabits Louisiana. Body black, polished: head with a dilated, hardly im¬ pressed oblique line each side before, in which are scat¬ tered punctures with short hairs, another narrower im¬ pressed line nearer the eye: antenna, first joint of the club with an acute ciliated process ; second joint triangu¬ lar, small, the interior angle prominent, acute; terminal joint subovate, rounded at tip: palpi rufous, last joint hardly as long as the preceding one: labrum slightly arid very widely emarginate, the anterior edge piceous, and about two small punctures on the middle : thorax with a rather slender arcuated line each side before, and laterally North American Coleopterous Insects. 171 with a&w scattered, slightly impressed punctures: scut el rather large : etytra with four striae of impressed punctures and an approximate marginal one: feet, excepting the base of the thighs, piceous. Length nearly three, fifths of an inch. A specimen was sent to me by Mr. J. Barabino. The whole surface is covered with very minute crowded punc¬ tures, not at all visible without a pretty good lens. Hydrophilus, Fabr. 1. H. mergus. Black, highly polished; sternum not reaching the middle of the venter. Inhabits Mexico. Body highly polished, black, oblong-oval: head with an abbreviated line of impressed, confluent punctures on the inner orbit; a much arcuated line of punctures from the anterior canthus terminates between the eyes: thorax with a much abbreviated, oblique line of punctures each side : elytra with three series of distant, obsolete punc- :ending to the middle of the ven¬ ter : feet more or less piceous. Length nearly seven twentieths of an inch. In comparison with H. natator, Nob. which it closely resembles, the surface is more highly polished, the sternum much shorter and without any appearance of a groove between the anterior pairs of feet. 2. H. exstriatus. Subsutural stria none, black; thoracic Inhabits Louisiana. Body short-oval or rounded, convex, glabrous, black; 172 Say’s Descriptions of new with small, equal, equidistant, numerous punctures; polish¬ ed : palpi and base of the antenna pale yellow ; three last joints of the latter fuscous : thorax piceous on the lateral and posterior margins: scutel small, with but few punc¬ tures : elytra destitute of striae and without any appear¬ ance of one on the sutural margin ; punctures on the ba¬ sal margin obsolete: beneath piceous: tarsi yellow, brighter beneath. Length less than three twentieths of an inch. This species was sent to me by Mr. Barabino. It is smaller than the orbicularis, F., which it resembles much in the puncturing and form ; but that species has the sub- sutural striae extending from before the middle to the tip of the elytra. 3. H. fnscus, Nob. Corresponding, almost unvariedly, with specimens found in Pennsylvania. I obtained it in company with Hydrocanthus atripennis, Nob. Sphjeridium, Fab. S. mellipes. Black ; beneath honey-yellow. Inhabits Mexico. Body very minutely, and densely punctured, black': antenna and palpi honey-yellow : thorax with the ante¬ rior and lateral margin obsoletely piceous ; an impressed puncture on the lateral margin before the posterior angle : elytra with punctured striae, and minute, dense punctures on the flat interstitial spaces; immaculate: beneath honey- Length less than one fifth of an inch. The largest North American species which I have seen; rather larger than S. bi-pustulatum, Fabr. but somewhat less robust. 174 Say’s Descriptions of new three or four hardly perceptible impressed lines: beneath dark green. length nearly one fifth of an inch.' Certainly not smaragdulus of Fab. but it is related, in point of size and form to Copris subceneus, P^l. de Beauy., of which, however, he remarks “ Clypeo integro, trans¬ verse bicarinato,”, and “ ses elytres sont d’un noir terne, les stries peu marquees, et une rangee de points eleves entre chacune,” which prove it. to be very different from our species. ^ 3. O. ovdtus, Fabr. Our specimens are subject, like the European, to vary considerably in magnitude * and some other characters ; but I have not- observed any trait which can justify the separation of it from the Fabrician type. Var. a. Elevated lines of the clypeus obsolete or en¬ tirely wanting. Var. 6. Anterior elevated line of the head obsolete. Var. y. Head bidentate before. Var. 5. Posterior elevated line of the head interrupt¬ ed in the middle. Var. e. Elytra with dull ferruginous spots. Arkan- saw. It appears to be an inhabitant of nearly all parts of the Union. Copris, Fabr. 1. C. colonica. Thorax somewhat retuse; head with a short elevation between the eyes. Inhabits Mexico. Body black: head a little rugose, with a slightly ele¬ vated, compressed, rounded horn, broader than high, sit¬ uated between the eyes and not surpassing the fine of North American Coleopterous Insects. 115 their anterior canthi; tip of the clypeus rather acutely rounded: thorax somewhat abruptly-declining 1 before, with an obsolete, abbreviated dorsal line behind tlie mid¬ dle, and a deeply indented, oval impression on the middle of the lateral margin ; punctures small, very numerous ; elytra with indented, punctured striae; interstitial spaces convex. Length nine tenths of an inch. Resembles C. Carolinus, Fab., but is not so robust, and the thorax is much less elevated behind. The horn of the head, also, in Carolinus is Equidistant between the eyes and the tip of the clypeus. It is also like Nicanor ? as figured by Drury I. pi. 35, fig. I. 2. C. incerta. Thorax simple, with an impressed line ; head homed ; elytra striate. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, somewhat polished: head with dense, shallow punctures ; a short, conic, vertical horn on the middle; tip of the clypeus acutely and rather deeply emarginate: thorax punctured excepting on the posterior disk ; a deeply impressed line from a little before the mid¬ dle to the base, and an impressed oval spot each side; anterior margin rather abrupt: elytra with deeply im¬ pressed, crenate striae J interstitial spaces convex, impunc- tured. Length nearly seven tenths of an inch. I should be inclined to consider this as the female of the proddua, Nob. but in that species the larger horn is very near the anterior termination of the head, and the posterior horn is much shorter and remarkably inclined ; whilst in the present insect no tubercle exists to mark the locality of the larger horn, and, the horn that it possesses is larger than the posterior horn of that insect, with which it corresponds in locality but not in direction. 176 Say’s Descriptions of new 3. C. quadridens . Thorax angulated, four toothed; head horned. Inhabits Mexico. Body blackish-violaceous : head densely punctured, and with an elongated, recurved, trigonate horn, which is as long as the thorax, punctured and acute : thorax rugose, angulated; posterior angles compressed, elevated, suba¬ cute ; on a line between them are two remote, short, ver¬ tical, conic denticulations ; anterior margin near the mid¬ dle with two short, vertical, conic denticulations separated by a raised line : elytra with obsolete striae. Length seven tenths of an inch. A fine species, not so brilliantly colored as the eami- fex, Fabr. or even as the triangularis, Nob., from both of which it is eminently distinguished by the thoracic den¬ ticulations. 4. C. procidua. Thorax three-homed; head two¬ horned. Inhabits Mexico. Body black: head punctured, two-homed; anterior horn vertical or hardly recurved, not as long as the head ; posterior hom very short, inclined: thorax punctured, with three horns, the middle one very obtuse and emarginate, lateral ones acute, in a transverse line on the anterior sub- margin; anterior margin declivous; anterior angles round¬ ed ; an impressed, abbreviated dorsal line and a lateral in¬ dented spot; posterior disk impunctured: elytra with im¬ pressed, punctured striae; interstitial spaces convex, im¬ punctured. Var. a. Highly polished. Length more than three fifths of an inch. The armature of the thorax is very similar to that of C. lunaris, Linn., but it is less robust, and is widely dis- North American Coleopterous Insects. 177 tinguisbed from that species, by having two horns on the head. The variety resembles C. ammon, Fabr., ana- glypticus , Nob., in the thoracic sculpture. Aphodius, Illig. 1. A. innexus. Black; elytra with a dull yellowish Inhabits Mexico. Head widely emarginate before, punctured ; disk con¬ vex im punctured : antenna cinereous at tip : palpi honey-yellow : thorax punctured, excepting on the disk, anterior margin and middle of the latent margin; mar¬ gin, at the anterior angles, obsoletely dd(poney-yellow : scutel impunctured: elytra with impressed, very regularly crenate striae, exterior and terminal margins rather pale honey-yellow; this color dilates towards the tip, and is deeply undulated on the inner edge: feet honey-yellow. Length less than one fourth of an inch. About the size of A. ater, Fabr. 2. A. sereal. Black; elytra dull whitish, with black spots. Inhabits Indiana. Body piceous black, punctured: head widely emargin- ated before, and with a dull rufous margin: thorax with a dull rufous lateral margin: elytra yellowish white, with seven or eight subquadrate black spots, and a lateral, ab¬ breviated, black, double, confluent vitta: with slender punctured striae ; interstitial lipes flat, impunctured. Length over three twentieths of an inch. Very closely allied to the inquinatus, Fabr., and re¬ sembles also A. contamindtus , Fabr., but the elypeus is much more deeply emarginated, and is acutely angulated 178 Say’s Descriptions of new at each end of the emargination. The latter species is hairy. Psammodius, Gyll. P. interriiytus. Thorax with three lateral, transverse undulations. Inhabits Indiana. Body dark chestnut, punctured: head deeply and some- what acutely emarginated; with very numerous raised points: thorax with about three, lateral, transverse, but little impressed grooves, obsolete above; with a dorsal, longitudinal, impressed line, obsolete before; edge cili¬ ated ; surface Sflpiewhat rough: elytra grooved, and some¬ what punctur^pl Length three twentieths of an inch. In the mlcicollis, Ill., the thoracic grooves are not in¬ terrupted on the back; it is also smaller than the present species. Odonteus, Meg. O. musculus. Small, brown, with short hairs ; elytra with punctured striae. Inhabits Indiana. Body small, light chestnut brown, darker before, with very numerous short hairs, punctured . head, between the eyes, with a hardly elevated, arcuated line, above which is a transverse indentation, then a hardly perceptible rais¬ ed line: lab-rum emarginate ; mandibles concave above, convex beneath, regularly arcuated, exterior edge entire : clypeus not trilobate at tip, entire : antennee yellowish at tip : thorax convex, laterally a little dilated towards the base ; an indentation on the middle of the lateral sub¬ margin : elytra with somewhat impressed and punctured mm 180 Say’s Descriptions of new T. globosus, Melsh. Catal. Body blackish-bronze, punctured: head entire, un¬ armed: thorax with an impressed line on the anterior lateral submargin: elytra with oblong, deeply impressed, rather distant punctures; posterior declivity With four or five elevated, converging lines, the two exterior ones continued towards the humerus ; exterior edge with numerous, approximate teeth : posterior tibia much dilated and compressed. Length about one fifth of an inch. ' - *' 3. T. splendidus. Dark brassy ; elytra with series of punctures, and on. the posterior declivity with elevated lines. Inhabits Ujfcd States.' T. splendidus, Melsh. Catal. Body rather .short, oval, polished, dark bronze; punc¬ tured : head unarmed, entire : thorax with an impressed line on the anterior lateral submargin : elytra with regu¬ lar series of rather long, deeply impressed, approximate punctures ; on the posterior declivity four or five elevatr* ed, converging fines, the exterior one extending towards* the humerus: posterior tibia much dilated and com- Length nearly one fifth of an inch. Readily distinguishable from the preceding by the more approximate punctures of the elytra, and the sim¬ plicity of the lateral edge. They both exhibit a remark- aide difference, in their smooth surface, from the greater number of the species of this genus. Melolontha, Fabr. M. Integra. Reddish-brown, hairy; clypeus entire. Inhabits Mexico. North American Coleopterous Insects. 181 Body reddish-brown, hairy on every part: head with rather large dense punctures; tip of the clypeus obtuse¬ ly rounded : thorax with the hair equal, reflected: scutel with rather short hair: elytra destitute of.elevated lines ; hair longer near the base: postpectus with long hair: feet with sparse hair. Length less than three fourths of an inch. Distinguishable from all the other known North American species by its rounded clypeus combined with its universal hairy vesture and magnitude. Anomala, Meg. 1. A . gemella. Yellowish-white, varied with black¬ ish, elytra with geminate stria:. Inhab. Mexico. Body pale, varied with blackish: head punctured, cupreous: thorax with minute, distant punctures; edge blackish-cupreous; disk blackish ; this color reaches the middle of the anterior margin, is sinuate on the sides and profoundly so behind; a blackish dot on the middle of the lateral submargin: scutel piceous: elytra with rather distant, large and blackish punctures; three double series of impressed punctures similar to the others, but approxi¬ mate, and a single subsutural series; edge all around blackish, a humeral spot and middle of the exterior mar¬ gin blackish. Length half an inch. In some respects resembles A. unifascidtus, Nob. but it is larger, with a shorter head, and is very different by other characters. 2. A. cincta. Bluish-green, elytra pale brovvnisb. Inhabits Mexico. 182 Say’s Descriptions of new Head cupreous, punctured: thorax slightly punc¬ tured, bluish-green : scut el bluish-green, punctured : elytra pale brownish, or a little testaceous, with punc¬ tured striae and a broad line of irregular punctures near the suture: suture and edge all around and spot on the humerus blackish-green: antennce and palpi ferruginous. Length over half an inch. This insect and the preceding may be only varieties ; nevertheless, having three specimens that are simil ar to each other, I may state that it differs from A. gemella, Nob. in the more obviously , punctured thorax, in not having the striae of the elytra so obviously in pairs, and in the color. Hegeter, Latr. H. punetatus. Thorax transverse ; elytra punctured, and with obsolete series of punctures. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, densely punctured: antenna: and palpi piceous; terminal joint of the maxillary palpi rather large: thorax transverse, convex: elytra irregularly punctured, and with regular series of punctures: feet piceous. Length less than one fourth, of an inch. Eurychora, Thunb. E. inaqudlis. Body inequal, with elevated points and lines, and indentations and punctures. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, oblong-oval; head minutely rugose, with an obtuse indentation each side: thorax inequal, with North American Coleopterous Insects. 183 elevated obtuse lines and indentations, and numerous small, elevated dots ; posterior angles acute : elytra with many small elevated dots, and deeply impressed, distant punctures; several elevated, obtuse, abbreviated lines, of which the largest one is near the middle and extends to the posterior declivity; on this declivity are three large, elevated tubercles; an abbreviated line extends from the humerus, and a very short basal one is nearest the suture: beneath, with numerous, small, elevated dots. Length three £fths of an inch. This occurred in abundance in an elevated situation, under old logs. Blaps, Fabr. 1. B. ruxda. Elongated; elytra rugose. Inhabits Mexico. Body blade, punctured: thorax somewhat longer than broad, punctures confluent each side and behind; a trans¬ verse, sub-basal, indented band, obsolete in the middle ; lateral margin rounded, the marginal; hardly elevated line being so low on the side as not to be visible from above : elytra convex, covered in every part with irregular rugosities. Length less than one inch. 2. B. impolita. Opaque ; thoracic basal angles slightly excurved; elytra simple. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, nearly opaque, very minutely punctured : head, transverse line between the antennae obsolete: thorax rather wider than long, greatest width a little be¬ fore the middle; lateral edge a slightly elevated line, abruptly a little excurved at the posterior angle, exhibit- Say’s Descriptions of new 1 that r ; part a very small, acute, lateral projection : elytra smooth to the eye, but on close inspection minute¬ ly and irregularly rugose and punctured; lateral margin rounded. Length over three fifths of an inch. Much like B. aqualis, but distinguishable by its al¬ most total want of polish, the minute prominence of its posterior angle, and the microscopic roughness of its elytra. 3. B. maura. Elytra with impunctured, obtuse striae. Inhabits Mexico. Body black: head punctured, an impressed line be¬ tween the antennae: thorax with hardly discernible punctures; wider than long; posterior angles not round¬ ed ; lateral edge a vertically elevated line, not in the slightest degree curved outwards near the posterior angle: elytra somewhat depressed, obtusely striated or grooved, the grooves impunctured, but viewed in a par¬ ticular direction they appear obsoletely rugose; intersti¬ tial lines convex; lateral margin rounded and evident¬ ly irregularly punctured : epipleura impunctured : feet punctured. Length more than three fifths of an inch. 4. B. obliterdta. Elytra with obsolete grooves; lateral margin rounded. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, immaculate : head slightly punctured; an impressed line between the antennae: thorax wider than long - lateral edge a slightly elevated line, a little ex- curved at the posterior angle, which is consequently somewhat acute : elytra with obsolete grooves, minutely punctured ; lateral margin rounded and smooth : thighs North American Coleopterous Insects. 185 Length less than three fifths of an inch. Resembles the preceding, but differs in the excurva¬ ture of the lateral thoracic edge near the posterior angle, and in the grooves of the elytra being obsolete. 5. B. celsa. Body somewhat elongated ; elytra with traces of grooves and punctures. . Inhabits Mexico. Body brownish-black, minutely punctured, somewhat elongated: head with the impressed line between the antennae obsolete: antenna, at tip, and palpi piceous: thorax rather wider than long; lateral edge a slightly elevated line, not excurved at the posterior angles ; an obsolete, abbreviated, oblique, impressed line near the posterior angles: elytra with a slight appearance of grooves; somewhat attenuated behind; lateral margin jounded. • Length more than three fifths of an inch. More slender than the mama and obliterdta, which have no appearance of an indentation near the posterior angles of the thorax. 6. B. aqudlis. Elytra smooth simple ; thoracic basal angles not excurved. Inhabits Mexico. Body black, minutely punctured: head with the im¬ pressed line between the antennae, obsolete: thorax broader than long, broadest in the middle; lateral edge a slightly elevated line, not at all excurved near the pos¬ terior angle: elytra destitute of. any appearance of the rudiment of a groove or of striae; rounded on the lateral Length over three fifths of an inch. Shorter and more robust than B. celsa , Nob.; allied 186 Say’s Descriptions of new closely to B. obliterata, Nob.; but the elytra of that species are much more rough, and its posterior thoracic angles are slightly excurved. 7. B. parva. Lateral thoracic edge reclivate ; elytra with punctured striae. Inhabits Mexico* Body black, punctured: head with two obsolete in¬ dentations between the antennae: thorax emarginate be¬ fore for the reception of the head; anterior angles acute; lateral edge with a hardly prominent line, curved convexly before and concavely behind, forming an acute posterior angle; greatest breadth rather before the middle: elytra with large punctures in regular series; interstitial lines irregularly punctured. Length nearly three tenths of an inch. The smallest species I have yet met with in North Of this genus I have described sixteen North American species, each of which has only the three ultimate joints of the antennae moniliform; whereas in all the exotic spe¬ cies of my collection, tjine in number, the four ultimate joints are moniliform. Opatrum, Fabr. 1. O. striatum. Clypeus obtusely emarginate; elytra with punctured striae. Inhabits Mexico. Body punctured, black, with a slight brassy tinge: head densely punctured ; emargination of the tip much dilated; thorax densely punctured, posterior edge not deeply sinu- ated: elytra with impressed, punctured striae: tarsi pice- ous. North American Coleopterous Insects. H 187 Liength three tenths of an inch. Resembles 0. pullum , Nob., but is smaller, and the base of the thorax is More rectilinear. 2. O. notwm "Nob. Specimens found near New Or¬ leans vary from those of more northern regions, in being a little polished, and in having the ely tral punctures larger. Jl Tenebbio, Lb. t. T. suppressus. Thorax large; clypeus entire; ely¬ tra with punctured striae. Inhabits Mexico. Body black: head densely but minutely punctured; clypeus a little reflected and entire : labrum nearly con¬ cealed : thorax densely and minutely punctured; rather large; a large, slightly indented spot on the posterior sub¬ margin ; posterior angles acute ; posterior margin with an impressed line: scutel triangular : elytra with impressed, punctured, and crenate striae; bsterstitial spaces convex, impunctured; lateral edge acute: anterior tibia with a strong tooth. Length half an inch. In comparison with T. reflexus, Nob., the thorax is larger, more arcuated on the lateral edge, and more nar¬ rowed behind; the anterior tip of the clypeus is not so prominently reflected, and the contraction towards the junction of the thorax and abdomen is more obtuse. 2. T. rujindsus. Suboval, black; head before, an¬ tennae and feet ferruginous. Inhabits Louisiana. Body aval, sl little oblong ; densely punctured: head on the anterior part obscure rufous: antenna obscure, 188 Say’s Descriptions of new ferruginous; joints transverse, subtriangular or conic: palpi and mentum ferruginous: thorax regularly punctured; basal edge undulated; basal angles rectangular: scutel densely punctured: elytra with regular series of punc¬ tures ; interstitial Sp&ces slightly convex, particularly the lateral ones, and with three or four irregular series of small punctures: beneath ferruginous, punctured. Length over one fifth of an inch. Sent to me by Mr. Barabino from New Orleans. Uloma, Meg. U. ferruginea, Fabr. Several specimens occurred at Vera Cruz, but I suspect it to be a naturalized foreigner, CEdemera, Oliv. CE. apicialis. Pale reddish-brown; elytra black at tip and with four elevated lines. Inhabits United States. Body rufo-testaceous, densely punctured: eyes obvi¬ ously emarginate : mandibles black at tip: thorax dilated each side before the middle, narrdwed behind: elytra with four narrow, slightly elevated lines, bn each side of which is a series of more obvious punctures ; third line obsolete before the middle ; tip black ; post pectus, abdo¬ men and feet black, a little sericeous: wings blackish. Length about half an inch. I have found it in Pennsylvania and other parts of the Union, and Mr. Barabino sent me an individual from North American Coleopterous Insects. 189 Lagria, Fabr. To this genus, as it is at present constituted, it seems probable that the following species belong, rather than to Anthicus, under which I published ait account of them, stating, at the same time, that they; differ much from the other species of the genus that had fallen under my observation, viz.: Lagria lugubris; L. colldris; L. terminalis; L. la- bidta; and L. impressa, Nob., but the orbicular tho¬ rax, the nails being armed with a tooth or abrupt angle beneath, &c. seem to justify, if not the formation of a new genus, certainly a division of the present, under the name of Corphyra. Rhipiphorus, Fabr. R. limbatus, Fabr. Sanguineous; thoracic disc and margin of the elytra black. Inhabits United States. Body rather slender, yellowish-sanguineous : antenna black, basal joint yellowish: mandibles black at tip: thorax deeply sinuated behind, and with a more or less dilated, black spot on the middle : elytra with a whitish disk, more or less broadly margined with black : thighs at tip, tibia, except at base, and tarsi, except the base of the first joint, black. Length to tip of elytra, a quarter of an inch. Var. «. Vertex black. Var. (?. Elytra black, immaculate. Var. r- Beneath, varied with black. Fabricius was unacquainted with the native country of his limbatus, but as his description agrees very well with von. i.—PART n. 25 190 Say’s Descriptions of a our insect, and was made out from a specimen belonging to the same collection in which he described his dimidid- tus, I have no doubt that it was intended to indicate this species. Dr. Melsheimer was of the same opinion, and has .recorded the name in his catalogue. I introduce the description, for the purpose of preserving the Fabrician name for a species, not commonly known. Mordella, Latr. 1. M. hildris. Blackish, silvery-sericeous ; elytra with a dilated, irregular, dull yellowish band margined with whitish.. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, somewhat purplish-iridescent, sericeous : head dull yellowish-sericeous: thorax varied with gray hairs: scutel silvery: elytra with a much dilated, dull golden, sericeous, oblique band, occupying about one third, spread widely towards the scutel, and margined before and behind with a whitish line, the anterior line much angulated and the posterior one reclivate ; tip rounded: beneath with purple and green reflections, and silvery-sericeous. Length about two fifths of an inch. This has some resemblance to M. bidentdta , Nob., but it is widely distinct by the elytral band and the much more dilated terminal joint of the maiillary palpi. It is common about the flowers of the Hydrangia cordata, Ph. Its movements are rapid. 2. M. oculata. Black ; elytra bifasciate, anterior band with two dots. Inhabits Pennsylvania and Indiana. M. fasciata, Melsh. Catal. North American Coleopterous Insects. 191 Body black, whitish-sericeous: antenna dull rufous, dusky towards the tip : thorax with two slightly in¬ dented dots a little behind the middle: elytra with a yellow-cinereous band a little behind the middle, inter¬ rupted at the suture and contracted on each side, and a much larger basal band extending posteriorly on each elytron in a point, nearly to the middle, and having a sub-basal obvious, definite, black dot each side of the suture : tibia and tarsi dull rufous. Length over three tenths of an inch. The two black dots in the basal band of the elytra are very obvious, and serve to distinguish it from M. fascidta, Fabr., which it certainly resembles, and to which it has been referred. 3. M. serval. Blackish, spotted with yellowish. Inhabits Indiana. Body brownish-black: anterma and palpi pale, dull rufous: thorax with numerous spots of short, yellowish hairs : elytra with numerous subequal spots of short, yellowish hairs, a dentated band behind the middle, and narrow terminal margin : beneath sericeous: venter each side with obsolete oblique, brown lines: tarsi, colqjf ot the antennae. Length three twentieths of an inch. A very pretty species. Apate, Fabr. A. bicaudata, Nob. A variety of this species occurred in Mexico. It is large, the feet are nearly black, and the punctures of the elytra are somewhat larger than in those of this country. 192 Say’s Descriptions of new Parandra, Latr. P. polita. Ferruginous, head and thorax dusky, hn- punctured. Inhabits Indiana. Body ferruginous, polished: head blackish-ferruginous, almost impunctured, excepting behind the eyes, where the punctures are numerous ; a longitudinal, slightly indented line before: antenna ferruginous at tip: mandibles with a large, prominent, rounded tooth near the base; then a profound, rounded sinus, then a subterminal tooth: palpi ferruginous : thorax blackish-ferruginous, impunctured, gradually a little narrowed behind; an obsolete indenta¬ tion in the middle of the lateral margin; lateral margin decurved, the edging line hardly prominent, so that, when viewed from above, it is not visible ; posterior angles almost rounded : posterior edging line hardly visible : scutel small: elytra minutely punctured : pectus and postpectus dart ferruginous. Length about seven tenths of an inch. This species, by its size and color, may be readily mistaken for the P. brunneus, of authors, but it differs in many characters. It has a more slender thorax, which is not wider than the head. The teeth of the mandibles are but two, the basal one being very large and remote from the other, so that, when the mandibles are closed, an oval interval appears, as in the ferruginea, Sturm, which species, however, has the posterior angles of the thorax very obtusely rounded. The P. brunnea has three subequal, subequidistant teeth in the mandibles; the head and thorax obviously punctured, the latter broader than the head, &tc. The species is rare. North American Coleopterous Insects. Prionus. P. dasystomus, Nob. Occurred near Natchez, on the Mississippi. Moneilema, Say. M. incequalis. Cinereous; rough with elevated points and tubercles. Inhabits Mexico. Body pale,brownish-cinereous : eyes small, distant from the antennae : antennce nearer to each other than to the eyes ; first joint robust, longer than the second and third together; half the length of the body: thorax cylindric- oval, covered with small, unequal, irregular elevations : elytra with many elevated tubercles, of which some form a regular arcuated series from near the humerus to the tip, and parallel with the suture beyond the middle ; tip entire, as long as the abdomen. Length seven twentieths of an inch. Inasmuch as this species is apterous and has a similarity of habit, I place it in the present genus, although thefcp- proximation of the antennae is an obvious distinction. Clvtus, Fabr. 1. C. chorus. Thorax yellow, with three black lines ; elytra black; base, band behind the middle, and tip yellow. Inhabits Indiana. Body covered with short, dense, prostrate hair: head black ; a band on the vertex curving under the head, an abbreviated line above the antenns, and front yellow: thorax yellow, with three dorsal, transverse, abbreviated, 194 Say’s Descriptions of new parallel, blackish bands: elytra black ; basal third, a nar¬ row, undulated band behind the middle, and tip in which is a small black spot, yellow; a black dot on the hume¬ rus : beneath yellow, sutures and feet black. Length nine tenths of an inch. Somewhat *like C. decants, Oliv., and specidsns, Nob., but the bands of the elytra and other characters are essen¬ tially different. I first observed it near the end of August. It is a remarkably fine insect. 2. C. cdprea, Nob. Occurred at New Orleans. Stenopterus, Illig. (Necydalis, Fabr.) S. sanguinicollis. Blackish, thorax sanguineous. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, with cinereous hairs, punctured: thorax sanguineous, inequal, with three more obvious elevations: elytra with a longitudinal, slightly elevated line ; disk ob¬ scurely tinged i|vith brownish: feet yellow; club of the thighs and tip of the tibiae black. Length seven twentieths of an inch. It is more slender than S. praustus, Fabr.; but the thoracic and elytral elevations are somewhat similar. Molorchus, Fabr. M. melRtus. Black ; abdomen, feet and basal joint of the antennae honey-yellow. Inhabits Indiana. Body black: head indented between the antennae: antenna about as long as the body, basal joint rufous : thorax subcylindric, contracted before the middle, and with an indented longitudinal line: elytra with a dull North American Coleopterous Insects. 195 honey-yellow vitta, external edge, and obsolete spot on the basal middle: postpectus sericeous: feet honey-yel¬ low ; tip of the posterior thighs, their tibiae and tarsi dusky: abdomen honey-yellow. Length $ nearly three fifths of an inch; $ over four fifths. In the form of the thorax it is more like 1V|, bimaculatus, Nob., than margindlis , but it is greatly superior in mag¬ nitude to either, and very distinct as a species. Acanthocinus, Meg. A. quadrigibbus. Antennae annulate; thorax four tu- bercled; elytra with a cinereous spot on each. Inhabits Louisiana. Body dark brownish, when closely examined, varied with ferruginous and cinereous, short* prostrate hair: an¬ tenna hardly longer than the body, blackish ; the joints, excepting t , reddish cinereous at their bases ; basal joint clavate : head before remotely punctured ; be¬ hind the eyes, small, numerous punctures: labrum dull honey-yellow: thorax with distant punctures; four tuber¬ cles nearly in ft transverse line, and a longitudinal, ®b- vated line : elytra quadrigibbous at base ; inner gibbosity extended into a longitudinal elevated line, gradually de¬ clining and terminating before the tip ; numerous,distant, profound, punctures; a dilated, undulated, cinereous spot, before the middle; a sutural series of alternate, quadrate, small brown and cinereous spots, nearly opposite; tip emarginate: thighs clavate. Length less than three fifths of an inch. ‘escribe this species, I am in¬ debted to Mr. Joseph Barabino, who obtained it near New Orleans. 196 Say’s Descriptions of new Tetraopes, Schcenh. T. tomator, Fabr. This species is subject to vary. I obtained an individual near the Rocky Mountains, so covered with short whitish hair as almost to conceal its color; it was destitute of the large black spot of the elytra. Two specimens occurred in Mexico, both of which were destitute of the same spot. It is the T. tetropthdl- mus, Forster. Of this genus are two species ; the tomator , F., and the canteriator, Dra^iez, both of North America. The latter has received three or four other names from as many different authors, but as they are unaccompanied with descriptions, the above will, of course, take pre¬ cedence. Hispa, Linn. H. atricdmis. Above yellowish; antennae, thoracic line and tip of the elytra, black. pnhabits Mexico. Body above yellowish-fulvous: head impunctured: antenna black: thorax with rather large punctures ; a black drorsal line : scutel black : elytra serrate, with dou¬ ble series of punctures, and interstitial, slender, elevated lines ; tip black-brown, not more than one fifth of the whole surface of the elytra : pectus and postpectus with a lateral black vitta dilating behind: feet black : thighs fulvous at base: venter black, yellowish each side. Length more than one fifth of an inch. This cannot be H. quadrdta, Fabr., which has the elytra margined with purple. 198 Say’s Descriptions of new Body dark green, somewhat metallic, punctured: head with an impressed angular line between the antennae: aniennce honey-yellow, at tip fuscous: labrum and palpi honey-yellow: thorax irregularly, and in parts confluently, punctured, particularly on the sides; on the disk the punc¬ tures are sparse: elytra with a cupreous tinge, and more or less arcuated and abbreviated series of punctures, in¬ cluding the whitish spots; spots unequal, more or less rounded, between twenty and thirty in number, yellowish- white, the largest one on the humeral margin and bilobate, two germinate ones at base, none on the sutural margin: wings cameous: beneath tinged with cupreous on the venter: feet honey-yellow. Length three tenths of an inch. A common species, easily distinguishable from others. Galeruca, Fahr. L G. lepida. Sanguineous; elytra blackish, bifasciate with white. Inhabits Mexico. Mead sanguineous: antenna white: thorax narrow, sanguineous, with a transverse, slightly indented line, impunctured : elytra blue-black, obsoletely and irregularly punctured ; a transverse, bilobate, abbreviated band be¬ fore the middle, and a transverse, oval spot near the tip, yellowish-white: feet yellowish-white. Length less than one fourth of an inch. Habit of G. 4 -maculdta, Fabr., but not so much elon¬ gated. At first sight, without inspection of its generic characters, it might be mistaken for a Lema. 2. G. cava. Head with one, thorax with two impress¬ ed dots. North American Coleopterous Insects. 199 Inhabits Mexico. Head punctured, sanguineous, beneath the antennae whitish : vertex with an impressed dot: antenna fuscous, or blackish, basal joints whitish beneath: thorax sanguin¬ eous, punctured, with two indented dots: elytra densely punctured, with a common suture and vitta blue, the latter originating on the humeral tubercle and abbre¬ viated before the tip: pectus ferruginous: postpectus and venter black: feet white. Length one fifth of an, inch. Distinguishable from other species by the indentations of the head and thorax, combined with the elytral vittae and irregular puncturing. The G. vittata, Fabr. is common in Mexico. Altica, Geoff. 1. A. mellicollis. Head black; thorax yellowish; elytra blue. Inhabits Louisiana. Head blue-black, with rather large punctures each side, between the antennae convex, dark piceous: antenna black-brown, three basal joints honey-yellow beneath : palpi black: thorax pale honey-yellow, punctures not obvious: scutel impunctured: elytra dark violaceous- blue, with numerous, small, distant, not profound punc¬ tures : pectus yellowish : postpectus blackish : venter blackish, last segment dull yellow: thighs honey-yellow : tibia black, yellowish at base : tarsi black. Length nearly one fifth of an inch. Related to colldris, Illig., and collata, Fabr., particu¬ larly the latter, from which it may be distinguished by its blue elytra, and immaculate face. A specimen was sent to me by Mr. Barabino from New Orleans. 200 Say’s Descriptions of new ‘ 2. A. creyiicollis. Yellowish ; thorax five-spotted ; elytra with black Vittae. Inhabits Mexico. Body pale yellowish: antenna blackish; three basal joints honey-yellow* with a black line above: vertex with a bl&ck spot: thorax with two small dots, and an abbre¬ viated line, arranged triangularly, black, and a lateral, somewhat larger, oblique, oval, indented, black dot: scutel black: elytra impunctured, destitute of striae; a common sutural black vitta, another in the middle somewhat nar¬ rower than the intervening portion, and a submarginal one: pectus yellowish : postpectus and venter black, the latter with yellowish margins to the segments: feet honey- yellow ; tibia, and anterior and intermediate thighs with a black line. Length one fifth of an inch. Very closely allied to the A. altemata , Ulig., the form and proportion of the elytral vitta being the same, but that species is somewhat larger, and is altogether destitute of the lateral thoracic impressed dots. 3. A. ceracdUis. White; head black, elytra viola- Inhabits Mexico. Body white, impunctured: head black, with an elevated line below the antennae: antenna black, second and third joints white, with a black line above: thorax immaculate : elytra violaceous, burnished : tarsi and tips of the tibia, black. Length less than one fifth of an inch. Resembles the A., collaris , Illig., ( xanthomelas, DaJ- man,) but is much more closely allied to A. colldta, Fabr* It b somewhat doubtful if it be a distinct species; but as I possess specimens of the latter from Pennsylvania, Mb- North American Coleopterous Insects. 201 souri and Florida, all corresponding im having green elytra,; white front, and other distinguishing traits, I have ventur¬ ed tp assign it a distinct name. Erotylus, Fab. E. 4 -punctatus. Testaceous, beneath black: thorax with four black dots ; elytra trifasciate with black. Inhabits Missouri. , Erotylus 4-punctatus ? Oliv. Enc. Meth. Head black : thorax testaceous, with an arcuated series of four subequal Mack dots : scutel Mack : elytra testaceous, with regular series of impressed punctures, an interrupted band at base composed of a large common spot, and a smaller longitudinally oblong one originating on the humerus, an irregular band on the middle, dilated on the suture, and a' terminal, longitudinally oblong spot, black; edge black: beneath black: pectus each side, and a series of five spots on each side of the venter, testa- Length three tenths of am inch. This insect I believe to be the E. A-punctata , Oliv., and as it is but little known, I describe it more particu¬ larly to fix the species. L. simplicicollis. Black; head and thorax sanguine¬ ous, immaculate. Inhabits Mexico. Body blue-black: head sanguineous: antenna black¬ ish-fuscous : thorax sanguineous, immaculate: elytra with 202 Say’s Descriptions, fyc. very distinct series of well impressed punctures: pectus and head beneath sanguineous. Length nearly two fifths of an inch. Much larger than L. mozardi, Latr., and with a pro¬ portionally shorter thorax, in these respects corresponding with L. puncticollis, Nob., which if equals in magnitude, but has : an immaculate thorax* more profoundly punc- turedjelytral striae, and black postpectus and venter. Coccinella, Linn. 1. C. munda. Elytra immaculate; thorax black, with a white margin and spots. Inhabits North America. Body black: head with dilated, white, inner orbits: labrum honey-yellow : thorax with a white anterior and lateral margin, and a white abbreviated line proceeding from the middle of the anterior margin; a lateral white dot sometimes confluent with the anterior margin: elytra immaculate, yellowish: tibia and tarsi piceous. Yar. «. Tibiae and tarsi black. Yar. Elytra sanguineous ; head white ; anterior pairs of feet honey-yellow. Length nearly one fifth of an inch. I have specimens in my collection from remote parts of North America. Dr. Harris sent it to me from Mas¬ sachusetts, and Dr. Melsheimer from near Maryland. I have found it in the North West Territory, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Missouri, Florida, and varieties a and (?, in Mex¬ ico. The name is taken from Melsheiraer’s Catalogue. 2. C. dentipes, Fabr., is common in Mexico, and I for¬ merly obtained an individual in tbe North West Territory. 3. C. cacti, Fabr. This species occurs abundantly in Mexico; it certainly resembles very closely the stigma, Eight’s Description of a New Animal, fyc. 203 Nob., so common in this country, and the renipustulata , Mull, of Europe ; but it is more than twice the size of either of those insects, and may also be distinguished from the former, by the superior magnitude of the rufous spot df.which the form is transversely oval, whilst that of the stigma is orbicular. Scymnus, Herbst. (Coccinella, F.) S. terminaius . Black ; elytra, at tip yellowish. Inhabits Louisiana. Body black, polished, punctured: head honey-yellow: antenna , club not much dilated, with numerous short hairs: thorax with numerous short hairs; lateral margin honey-yellow: scutel acute behind: elytra at tip yellow¬ ish : beneath piceous-black : pectus, feet and venter be¬ hind, hotaey-yellow. Length about two twenty-fifths of an inch. For this species I am indebted to Mr. Barabino. ART. XI.—DESCRIPTION OF A NEW ANIMAL BELONG¬ ING TO THE ARACHNIDES OF LATREILLE; DISCOV¬ ERED IN THE SEA ALONG THE SHORES OF THE NEW SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS. By James Eights, M. D. (Communicated September 17,1834.) ARACHNIDES. Gen. Decolopoda.* Thorax. Elliptical, composed of five segments, sepa¬ rated from each other by slightly impressed articulations; From Itxa, ten, 6lof, perfect, nota fect. 205 belonging to the Arachnides. the four terminal joints are prehensile, and have their in- Jjer margins dentated, the teeth arranged in about four longitudinal rows. Legs long and nearly equal, poste¬ rior pair rather smaller ; joints of the coxae short and subequal. Thighs about twice the length of the coxae, furnished with small spines at their superior extremity. The first joint of the tibia equal in length to the thigh, the other rather longer. Tarsi as long as the thigh; the last joint of the tibia, and those of the tarsi, each armed at their extremities beneath, with four rigid spines. Eyes very small. Teguments pergamineous. Habitat: sea in the vicinity of the New South-Shet- land Islands. Cabinet of James Eights. I have placed this interesting animal in the class ARACHNIDES, in consequence of its close approxi¬ mation to Latreille’s second family Fycnogonoides,* of his order TrachearijE ; it possesses all of the charac¬ ters, besides which, it has a segment supporting tw6 additional legs, making in all Jive perfect pairs; this latter circumstance would doubtless bring it in the pre¬ ceding class CRUSTACEA, being a character which strikingly distinguishes the animals that compose it; at all events, I think it will certainly form a connecting link in the great chain of the animal kingdom, between these two classes, passing from the CRUSTACEA into the ARACHNIDES by the genera Nym- phon, Phoxichili, Pycnogonum, &c. Their mode of respiration I could not determine, as no appearance of the stigmata, through which they are supposed to breathe, were,, visible. Of the many specimens that I obtained, I saw none but suck as were furnished with * Cuvier, Regne Animal. 4 206 Jackson’s Analysis of what are termed the egg-bearing organs, consequently, if those are the females that are thus distinguished, they prove much more numerous, than the males. S The tegument covering the body is soft and yielding, the appearance of segments and articulations are necessa¬ rily faint, indicating that little motion of the parts is re¬ quired. They are to be found in considerable numbers in con¬ nexion with the fuci, thrown up by the waves along the shores of the islands, after being detached by the motion of the large masses of ice, from the bottom of the sea. Plate VII. Fig. 1. Superior view of the animal, natural size. “ 2. Inferior « “ « de¬ prived of the legs near the coxae. ART. XII—CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF CHRYSOCOLLA FROM THE HOLQUIN COPPER MINES, NEAR GIB- ARA, CUBA. By C. T. Jackbok, M. D. ,Read May 6,1835. Mr. James Davis, Jr. presented me with several ores of copper, from the' mines recently explored in Cuba, for chemical analysis. Among these ores I observed a beau¬ tiful green ore, similar to the mineral described in works on mineralogy as CkrysocoUa. It occurs in botryoidal and mammillary incrustations in the cavities of Bronzite or Diallage rock. Some of the incrustations are an inch or more in thicjpess, and when the mineral is broken, it 207 Chrysocolla from Cuba. exhibits a perfect conchpidal fracture. It yields to the knife, hut Scratches glass readily. It is brittle. Its pow¬ der is nearly white, bating . a slight tint of green. It ad¬ heres to the tongue, and absorbs water when immersed in that fluid. It takes a good polish, which it preserves when the surface is oiled. Sp. Gr. = 2.16. When a fragment of the mineral is treated with carbonate of soda on charcoal before the blow-pipe, it melts with effervescence, and a globule of copper is obtained**;- A portion of the mineral being powdered and treated with muriatic acid, no efferves¬ cence took place, but oxide of copper dissolved, leaving silica, insoluble, behind. A. To ascertain the quantity of water contained in the mineral, 25 grains in powder were subjected to a red heat in a platina capsule. It lost 8.26 grains, equal to 33 per cent, of water. B. Twenty-five grains of the powdered mineral, in a glass flask, were subjected to the action of muriatic acid, and the digestion was continued 48 hours on the heated jsand bath, the acid being removed and renewed until it ceased to dissolve any thing. ■ The solution was then diluted largely with water, and the whole thrown on a filter, to separate the silick, which, collected, washed, dried, ignited and weighed, amounted to 7.5 grains, equal to 30 per cent, of silica. C. The solution which had passed the filter with the washings of the silica was treated, while boiling hot, with a hot solution of pure potash, and boiled. A dense, black precipitate took place, consisting of deut-oxide of cop¬ per, which, collected on a filter, washed dried, ignited 208 Jackson’s Analysis of Chrysocolla. ' in a platina crucible, and weighed, amounted to 9.25 grains. The oxide of copper was re-dissolved in muriatic acid diluted with water, when 0.12 grains, of silica remained undissolved, which is to be added to the silica obtained by process B. The solution was now supersaturated with pure ammonia, when oxide of iron separated, which, collected, washed, dried and ignited, did not amount to more than 0.05 grain per oxide >of iron. This ore consists, then, in 100 parts, of A. Water 33.00 containing oxygen 29.20 : 4 B. Silicic Acid 30.12 “ « 15.05:2 C. Deut Ox. Copper 36.83 “ “ 7.31 ; l Ox: of Iron, a trace. Loss 00.05 100.00 From which it will appear that this ore is a bi-silicate of the deut-oxide of copper plus 4 atoms of water, and Its chemical formula will be Cu Si * -f- 4 Aq. The per-oxide of iron is evidently accidental, having been derived from the gangue in which the mineral occurs. This ore is of great value, as its silica renders it suitable to aid in the reduction of the black sulphuret of copper and iron which occurs at the same place; the silica combining, in the meta%rgic operations of reduc¬ tion of the copper, with the iron, which is thus separated m the slag from the copper which collects at the bottom of the furnace. This green ore has lately been brought to Boston by the cargo, and it is also carried from Cuba to Swansea ut Euglaud, where it is used with the black sulphuret to ai|m the process of reduction pf that ore. BOSTON JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. Vol. I. MAY, 1836. No. 3. ART. XIII.—DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA, AND OBSERVATIONS ON SOME ALREADY DESCRIBED. fiy Thomas Sat. Com- municated Feb. 1835. FAMILY TENTHREDINETJE. Genus Acobduleceba, Say. Antenna filiform, 6-jointed, short; radial cellule one ; cubital cellules three, the second smallest. Antennae six-jointed; 1st and 2d joints subequal, the second larger ; third joint longest but equal to the follow¬ ing ones in diameter ; remaining joints gradually shorter; terminal joint not longer than the second : mandibles arcuated, acute; a prominent tooth on their middle: labruin prominent and distinct: radial cellule rather large: cubital cellules three; first elongated, as long 210 Say’s Descriptions of again as the second : carpus large: tibiae with one pair of spines at tip. The family of which this new genus is a member, was divided by Leach into 9 Stirpes, all of which have 9 or more joints in the antennae excepting the 1st, 2d, and 5th. Of these, two genera only, have 6-jointed antennae, viz. Zarea and Perga, Leach; but both have clavate an¬ tennae and in many respects are at variance with the characters of the present insect. In a later work, the “ Entomologische Monographieen,” by Dr. Klug, which that author has done me the favor to send me, are the two new genera Pachylosticta and Svztgonia, both of which have clavate antennae, and therefore, like the preceding, cannot possibly include our insect. A. dorsalis. Black; hypostoma, a base of the tergum and feet whitish. Inhabits Indiana. $ $ Black, with minute whitish hairs: nasus, labrum and mouth white: mandibles rufous at tip: thorax with the anterior segment, curving to the base of the wing, white; line of the insertion of the wings white : wings a little dusky; nervures fuscous: tergum pale yellowish on the basal disk, blackish brown at tip: venter more or less yellowish-white, dusky or blackish at tip: feet and coxae whitish-green. Var. a. Feet and part of the costal rib green; scutel and posterior portion of the stethidium whitish. 211 North American Hymenoptera. Var. (9. Thorax and abdomen entirely black. Length three twentieths of an inch. This insect is common. Hvlotoma, Latr. 1. H .scutellata. Fulvous; head and thorax, except¬ ing the humerus and scute!, blackish. Inhabits United States. ? Body reddish-yellow : head blue-black: thorax blue-black; each side before the wings, including the superior portion of the pleura, reddish-yellow : scutel elevated, bright reddish-yellow: metathorax with two oblique, oblong, white spots: wings dusky violaceous : pectus, neck , incisure of the stethidium (and feet?) blue-black: anal segment at tip black. Length nine twentieths of an inch. I do not remember in what part of the Union I found this species. The feet in the specimen are mutilated. 2. H. calcanea. Blackish; thorax yellow; tarsi whitish at base. Inhabits United States. Violaceous black: thorax , with the anterior superior portion of the pleura yellow; suture of the anterior seg¬ ment, or collar, blackish: wings dusky violaceous: tarsi at base white. Length less than seven twentieths of an inch. I have also lost the particular locality of this species. They do not correspond with either of the species de- cribed by Dr. Leach. 212 Say’s Descriptions of Genus Atomacera, Say. Body rather short: antennae with but three obvious joints; in the male ciliated: cellules, one radial, unap- pendiculated; three or four cubitals, the dividing nervure of the first and second being obsolete: tibiae destitute of a spine in their middle. The name of Cryptus, applied by’Jurine to one of his genera, had been previously appropriated by Fabri- cius to a genus of ichxeumomdes, and is altogether synonymous with Hylotoma of Latreille, which is the anterior designation. It includes species of at least three genera, all of which are distinguishd by tri-articulate antennae. It may be thus divided, with modified char- Hylotoma, Latr. Radial cellule appendiculated : four posterior tibiae with a spine on their middle. H. rosce, F. Atomacera, Nob. Radial cellule simple; tibiae destitute of a spine on their middle. Cryptus, Jurine (by error). Antennae of the male biparted; tibiae destitute of a spine on their middle. C. furcata, F. C. Klugii, Leach, &c. I. A. debilis. Black ; tibiae whitish. Inhabits Indiana. $ Body black, polished : antenna , ciliae longer than the transverse diameter of the antennae: mouth dull piceous: rings fuliginous, a little paler at tip; first and 214 Say’s Descriptions of cylindric, naked; sixth slightly longest, nearly equal to the 3d and 5th, a little dilated towards the tip; scutel large. This is distinguished from the genera into which Leach has divided Cimbex, Fabr. by the number and construction of the joints of the antennae, combined with the wing cellules. It corresponds with Clavellaria in its one-jointed club, but has one joint more in its antennae, and only one radial cellule. It agrees with .Zarjea in the number of the joints of the antennae, but not in the number which constitute the club, nor in the number of radial cellules. With Perga it is related by the comparative magnitude of the scutel, and the number of joints of the antennae, but differs remarkably in the proportions of the latter, as well as in the number of cubital cellules. Pachylosticta of King has a one- jointed club, but one joint less than the present genus, and two radial Gellules; and Syzygonia of the same author, with a one-jointed club, has appendiculated radial cellules. T. nigra. Body black: nasus and labrum green: spot before the wings, wing-scale and feet yellowish- green. Inhabits Mexico. Length to the tip of the wings three twentieths of an inch. The smallest species I have seen of this family with clavate antennae. North American Hymenoptera. 215 Allantus, Panz. Leach. 1. A. epinotus. Black; tergum with a white band at base; feet varied with white. Inhabits Indiana. Body black: mouth white: tongue piceous: thorax with the posterior edge of the collar, wing-scale, posterior edge of die scutel and two minute dots behind it, white : wings with brown nervures ; stigma somewhat inflated: tergum with the posterior margin of the first segment white: feet white: coxa with a dilated line before and behind: anterior and intermediate thighs and tibia with a black'.line behind, tarsi dusky at tips of the joints: posterior thighs black in the middle: tibia at base and tip, black: tarsi, first joint black, remaining joints black, white at base. Length $ three tenths, $ less than two fifths of an inch. 2. A. goniphorus. Black ; abdomen rufous ; scutel and thoracic triangle yellow. Inhabits Indiana. £ 9 Body black: nasus emarginate, white: labrum orbicular, and with the other parts of the mouth white ; mandibles at tip piceous: antenna, basal joint white: thorax with a central triangle and posterior margin of the collar white: scutel white with a black band: wings hyaline; costal nervure and carpal spot yellowish; nerv¬ ures fuscous: abdomen honey-yeHow: pleura, with a longitudinal vitta and a line descending from the superior wing white : feet white ; anterior pairs with a black line behind the thigh and tibia; posterior pair honey-yellow, base of the thigh, spot on the middle of the tibia,- tarsus, excepting the base of the first joint, and coxae, white, the latter with a black line. 216 Say’s Descriptions of Length three tenths of an inch. A female has the basal joint of the antennae almost black. 3. A. apidalis. Black; antennae at tip white; ab¬ domen honey-yellow. Inhabits Indiana. Body black: antennce , four last joints white: nasus profoundly lunate, white: labrum obtusely angulated before, white: thorax, with the posterior margin of the collar and wing-scale, white : scutel white : wings hya¬ line; nervures black; carpus white on the basal half: abdomen honey-yellow: feet honey-yellow: coxa white. Length seven twentieths of an inch. The white terminal joints of the antennae strongly con¬ trast with the remaining joints. 4. A. epicera. Black; abdomen, base of the antennae and feet honey-yellow. Inhabits Indiana. g Body somewhat slender, black: antenna , 1st and 2d joints yellow, the latter two thirds the length of the first; 3d and 4th joints yellow on the upper side: nasus deeply emarginate, yellow-white: lab-rum suborbicular and with the mouth whitish: mandibles piceous at tip: thorax , collar and wing-scale yellow: wings hyaline; nervures black; carpal spot white on the basal half: abdomen honey-yellow, basal segment black: feet honey- yellow : coxa white. Length less than three tenths of an inch. Var. «. Scutel dull yellowish. 5. A. cestus. Black; a white band at base of the tergum; pleura with a white spot. Inhabits United States. $ Body black, with large crowded punctures: an- 217 North American Hymenoptera. tenrue, 1st and 2d joints yellow: nasus hardly emargin- ate, with a lateral whitish spot: thorax with the posterior margin of the collar white : pleura with a white spot on the anterior upper part: wings tinted with fuliginous; nervures black ; carpal spot wax-yellow: tergum with a dilated band extending to the lateral sutures, white: feet white, a little varied with yellowish at tips of the joints: thighs black at base beneath. 2 Anal segment white: posterior cox® at base black: posterior thighs in the middle and their tibiee at tip black. Length seven twentieths of an inch. Resembles the epindtus , but may be at once distin¬ guished by the white spot of the pleura. 6. A. pannosus. Black; mouth white; feet varied with white. Inhabits Indiana. g Body black : nasus very deeply emarginate, white : labrum suborbicular, truncate-subemarginate before, black¬ ish on the disk, or within the emargination of the nasus: mandibles black at tip: maxillary palpi dusky in the middle of the basal joint: thorax, posterior edge of the collar white; wing-scale blackish: wings hyaline; nervures black; carpus on the inner half dull wax yel¬ low : pleura immaculate: feet, anterior pairs white be¬ fore, with a black line behind; cox® white ; tarsi white with dusky incisures; posterior pair black, incisures of the thighs, band on the tibis and base of the ultimate joints of the tarsi white; cox® white, with a black spot above and beneath. Length one fourth of an inch. 2 Cox® with a large black spot; posterior tibi® with a white longitudinal line. Length three tenths of an inch. 218 Say’s Descriptions of Much smaller than extemus, Nob. (Western Quar¬ terly Reporter.) 7. A. bardus. Black; thorax and anterior upper angle of the pleura rufous. Inhabits Indiana. $ Body short, dilated, black: antenna, 2d joint nearly as long as the first, but less dilated : front and vertex with impressed lines: nasus not deeply emarginate: labrum rounded before: mandibles piceous at tip: thorax and humeral portion of the pleura honey-yellow: icings tinged with blackish purple. Length three tenths of an inch. Belongs to the genus Selandria, Leach. The short and dilated form is like that of ovatus, L. and nieerrima, King.. * Nematus, Jut. 1. N. vertebrdtus. Green; antenna and spots above blackish. Inhabits Indiana. 9 Body pale green: vertex with a black spot: an¬ tenna black, fuscous towards the tip; 2d and 3d joints subequal: nasus white, somewhat bilobate : labrum not very obtusely rounded before, a little indented on the disk, white: mandibles piceous at tip: thorax trilineate with black: scutel black: wings hyaline; nervures blackish; costal nervure and carpus pale greenish: ter - gum with a vitta of blackish spots, almost obsolete to¬ wards the tip: tarsi dusky. Length one fourth of an inch. 2. N. integer. Greenish-yellow; antennae, spots and tergum black; costal edge not emarginate at the carpus. 219 North American Hymenoptera . Inhabits Indiana. 9 Body greenish-yellow: head with a dilated black vitta on the vertex: antenna black: nasus whitish, not very deeply emarginate: labrum white, depressed ante¬ riorly, rounded before: mandibles piceous at tip: thorax with three much dilated, abbreviated,,black vittae; an oblique, black spot behind the scutel: wings hyaline ; costal nervure and carpus dull waxen; no obvious emar- gination on the costal edge near the carpus; nervures blackish: tergum black; lateral edge and posterior nar¬ row margins of the basal segments whitish : posterior pair of tibia and tarsi black. Length over one fourth of an inch. Resembles the preceding, but the form is much more robust, and that species has the usual emargination of the costal edge. The present species has much more of black in its color. 3. N. longicdmis. Black ; beneath, head and before the wings whitish. Inhabits Indiana. Body black: head yellowish-white, a dilated black spot on the vertex: antenna fuscous, joints elongated: thorax black, line before the wings and wing-scale whit¬ ish: wings hyaline, nervures fuscous; carpus rather large, yellowish: beneath greenish, or yellowish-white: pleura with two black spots beneath the wings, the anterior spot longitudinal. Length three twentieths of an inch. Emphytus, Leach. 1. E. tarsatus. Black; tarsi and tip of the antennae white. mum hi mm North American Hymenoptera. 221 hardly longest: mouth dull piceous: wing-scale dull piceous : wings fuliginous, with a violaceous tinge: feet white; thighs in the middle and coxae black. Length less than three twentieths of an inch. The joints of the antennae are shorter and more com¬ pressed than those of any other species I have seen. 4. E. recms. Antennae, basal joint white ; pectus Inhabits Indiana. $Head black; basal joint of the antennae, nasus, labrum and mouth white: thorax black, with a white collar and wing-scale: wings hyaline, nervures fascous: tergum, on the basal half white, with three dilated black bands slightly interrupted in the middle; terminal half somewhat fulvous, with about two marginal black spots and a larger double one each side near the tip ; lateral processes at tip obvious: pectus white: pleura with a dilated black line: feet white; intermediate tibiae and tarsi with a black line; posterior thighs tinged with honey-yellow; their tibiae and tarsi dusky or blackish. Length one fifth of an inch. Xiphydbia, Latr. 1. X. maculata. Abdomen black with seven lateral white spots. Inhabits Indiana. J Body black: head punctured on the firont; with two small spots above the antenna, anterior and inferior orbits extending in a line behind the eye, base of the mandibles, and two lines upon the vertex, whit ** **** confluently punctured; about four short lines on the disk, white; a white spot before the wings: wings immacu- 222 Say’s Descriptions oj late : tergum with seven lateral, emarginate, white dots: beneath , pn the neck and pectus with a few white spots: feet honey-yellow. Length over two fifths of an inch. This is undoubtedly much like the X. camelus, Linn, which, however, is destitute of spots on the disk of the thorax, the wings are clouded towards the 4»p> and there are but six lateral spots on the abdomen, the ultimate segment being immaculate. 2* X. basalis . Black ; abdomen fasciate at base. Inhabits Indiana. 9 Body black, polished : mandibles and palpi white : thorax , anterior segment glaucous on the posterior mar¬ gin : wings hyaline; first cubital cellule confluent with the first radial, having only a rudiment of the dividing nervure: abdomen , two basal segments honey-yellow, more or less intermixed with black: feet honey-yellow ; posterior tarsi and tibiae black, the latter white at base. Length seven twentieths of an inch. Found in the latter part of May. Ltd a, Fahr. L. ocreata. Yellowish-green, antennae and spots blackish. Inhabits Indiana. 9 Body yellowish-green: head with a spot on the stemmata and three lines behind, blackish; one or two brownish lines beneath the eyes and an obsolete one be¬ fore the eyes: mandibles piceous at tip: antenna, black ; basal joint dull whitish beneath: thorax with a transverse black line on the collar near the neck; another behind the collar; about four brown spots, of which the. inner North American Hymenoptera. 223 ones are smallest; a larger brown spot behind the ante¬ rior wings: wings hyaline, with fuscous nervures; carpus greenish in the middle: tergum blackish, dull greenish in the middle : tarsi and tibia exteriorly dusky : posterior tibise blackish. Length nearly two fifths of an inch. Xorides, Latr. X. humerdlis , Nob. Contributions of the Maclurean Lyceum, p. 74, where I placed it, agreeably to Jurine, in his genus Anomalon. $ Antenna entirely black: tergum , first segment on efach side with two longitudinal impressed lines ; second and third segments each with an impressed oblique line each side at their bases : trochanters partly white ; ante¬ rior and intermediate feet varied with whitish. Length over two fifths of an inch. Brachygaster, Leach. (Evania, F.) B. reticuldtus. Black ; first joint of the antennae, and anterior pairs of feet piceous. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, reticulate with large punctures : antenna not longer than the trunk, with close set, subequal joints; first joint subclavate, piceous, longest; second joint not longer than broad, shortest, about half the length of the third: punctures on the posterior face of the metathorax more dilated than those of the thorax: mngs hyaline; nervures foscous : petiole about as long as the abdomen, punctured : abdomen orbicular, polished, impunctured : feet, two anterior pairs piceous. 224 Say’s Descriptions of Length abotit one fifth of an inch. I agree with Leach in the propriety of separating this group from Evania. In addition to the great dissimi¬ larity of the neuration of the wings, the proportional length of the posterior feet and of the antennae is quite different. PlMPLA, F. 1. P. humida. Black; feet yellow; thorax with white lines; abdomen with white lateral spots. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, transversely rugulous: anterior orbits and palpi white: thorax with rather large, transverse wrinkles; wing-scale, line before the wing, and two abbreviated dorsal lines white: wings immaculate: nerv- ures blackish; stigma at base whitish; second cubital cellule petiolated: scutel, posterior margin white: abdo¬ men falcate ; segments, excepting the first, with a rather large, rounded, whitish, lateral spot: oviduct at least as long as the body: pectus and feet honey-yellow: tarsi whitish, incisures dusky: tibia whitish, posterior pairs blackish at tip. Length over half an inch. Form and magnitude of P. pterelas, Nob., which, however, is destitute of white spots and lines. 2. P. ? petiolatus. Black; varied with yellowish- white ; second cubital cellule minute, petiolated. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, densely punctured: kypostoma y mouth , and antenna beneath, whitish: thorax with a wide, white line before the wings: wings hy alin e; nervures blackish; stigma whitish towards the base; second North American Hymenoptera. 225 cubital very minute, the petiole being elongated: scutel dull honey-yellow : tergum densely punctured j two basal segments with an elevated, abbreviated line; that of the second segment parted into several at base, that of the first segment dilated into a groove at base; basal segment with a tubercle each side and an elevated line on the lateral margin, continued on the second segment: pleura and pectus honey-yellow varied with white: coxa and trochanters white; posterior pair of coxae honey-yellow: feet pale honey-yellow; posterior pair of thighs at tip, their tibiae from the middle to the tip and their tarsi black: venter, in the middle, white. Length nearly three tenths of an inch. A small frontal escutcheon and sessile abdomen led me to place this insect here, although the palpi are not dilated and the wing cellules differ. 1. A. polita. Black; antennas, tibiae amd tarsi yel¬ lowish. Inhabits Indiana. 3 Body deep black, highly polished: head yellow: vertex, front and eyes on the posterior margin, polished, black: antenna honey-yellow : mandibles honey-yellow, black at base and tip: posterior orbits and posterior margin of the vertex, yellow: occiput obscure honey- yellow : thorax with a double, yellow, central spot, cor¬ date spot on the scutel, abbreviated, transverse line be¬ neath it, and posterior margin of the metathorax, yellow: usings blackish-brown ; second cubital cellule quadran¬ gular : tergum with a yellow band on the posterior mar¬ gin of the first and second segments, slightly interrupted VOL. I.-PART III. 30 226 Say's Descriptions of in the middle: feet honey-yellow: posterior thighs black ; the tibiae pale, and tarsi yellow. 9 Thorax with a hardly visible, piceous vitta on each side of the central spot; abdomen towards the tip atten¬ uated. Length nine twentieths of an inch. 2. A. omata. Black, varied with yellow; tergura yellowish, fasciate with fuscous. Inhabits Indiana. $ Body black, polished: head yellow, a black frontal spot confluent with a black transverse line of the vertex, that is continued on the posterior margin of the eyes: antenna honey-yellow, somewhat dusky above: mandi¬ bles blackish at tip : thorax with a broad, yellow margin, interrupted before, and double central spot: scutel and two or three small spots beneath it yellow: metathorax with a small spot behind the wing and posterior margin yellow: wings fuliginous; stigma and costal nervure honey-yellow; second cubital cellule quadrangular : ter- gum yellow, becoming greenish behind, segments with a broad blackish band at base, the anterior bands broader: pleura with more of yellow than black: feet yellow: coxa varied with honey-yellow: posterior thighs, their tibiae at tip, and tarsi at tip, honey-yellow. Length less than half an inch. Resembles the-preceding. Ichneumon. 1. I. suturdlis. Ferruginous; scutel yellow; sutures black. Inhabits North America. Body pale ferruginous: black beyond the ;!!i!;{!Kr!iM[;4f!m>t3!!! 228 Say’s Descriptions of I have found this species in Indiana, Missouri and the N. W. Territory. The “ acute angle” of the raetatho- rax is prominent, spiniform. 4. I. otiosus , Nob. (ibid, p. 69.) Occurs in Indiana and N. W. Territory. It resembles unifasdatorius, Nob. (Amer. Entom. vol. II.) but is rather smaller, the annulation of the an¬ tennas is differently situated, and it has two abbreviated white lines on the middle of the thorax. 6. I. brevinctor, Nob. (Amer. Entom. pi. 22.) Ter¬ minal segment of the tergum with a large, white, rounded spot. 6. I. parata, Nob. (Contr. Macl. Lyc. p. 68.) The following is a description of the opposite sex, and of some Body black: head with yellow orbits, mouth and hypostoma• antenna beneath dull honey-yellow; basal joint beneath yellow : thorax with two small abbreviated lines on the disk, line before the wings approaching before, and wing-scale yellow: scutel yellow: wings slightly tinged with fuliginous: nervures pale brownish; stigma dull honey-yellow; second cubital cellule penta¬ gonal, the two recurrent nervures with a short process near their middles: metathorax with a dilated spot each side, often confluent, and a small line under the scutel: tergum with four dilated yellow bands: feet yellow; posterior thighs, excepting their base and their trochanters, black ; posterior tibiae at tip black. Length over three fifths of an inch. Var. a . Tergum with but two bands. Var. (?. Metathorax immaculate behind. Var. y. Bands of the tergum contracted in the middle. Var. 3. Short lines of the thorax confluent, so as to form a lunate spot. North American Hymenoptera. 229 Var. e. Short lines of the thorax obsolete. A very common species. I have taken it in Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania and N. W. Territory. 7. I. comptus. Black; tergum with a yellow band on each segment. Inhabits United States. Body black: head with yellow hypostoma, orbits and cheeks: thorax with a line before the wings, two slender parallel lines, nearly as long as the disk, on the middle, wing-scale, and often a short line between the wing and scutel, yellow: scutel yellow: wings tinged with fuli¬ ginous ; second cubital cellule pentagonal, the anterior recurrent nervure with a short process near the middle : metathorax with a short transverse line at tip of the scutel and two dilated longitudinal spots, yellow : tergum with a dilated yellow band on each of the segments, the 2d and 3d widest: feet yellow, or honey-yellow. 9 with a whitish annulation rather beyond the middle line of the antennae. Length half an inch. Resembles the preceding, but differsjn many charac¬ ters, as the two descriptions will prove. 8. I. navus. Black; orbits, line before the wings and lateral margin of the scutel, yellow. Inhabits United States. 9 Body greenish-black; head with narrow yellow orbits: palpi dull yellowish: thorax with a slender line before the wings yellow: wings a little fuliginous ; nervures fuscous: scutel with a yellow lateral margin : metathorax with a line beneath the scutel generally in¬ terrupted into two distant dots : thighs at base and tip, tibia at tip, and tarsi, with a slight tinge of piceous: antenna annulate. 230 Say’s Descriptions of $ Hypostoma and mouth yellow: feet with the thighs at base and tip, tibia at tip and base of the joints of the tarsi dull yellowish. Length from nine twentieths to three fifths of an inch. May be distinguished from brevicinctor, unifasciato- rius, and otidsus, Nob. by its black scutel; and from mdrulus and malacus, Nob. by having a yellow line be¬ fore the wings. I have found it in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Louisiana. 9. I. devinctor, Nob. (Amer. Entom. vol. II.) It varies in having the scutel black and the feet en¬ tirely black. Another variety has the tibiae and tarsi ferruginous. My largest specimen was sent to me by Dr. Harris. 10. I. duplicatus. Black; abdomen rufous; meta¬ thorax with yellow marks. Inhabits Indiana. 9 Body black: hypostoma, palpi and orbits yellow $ antenna with a whitish annulus beyond the fifteenth joint: thorax with the dorsal impressed lines not deep, and extending from the middle to die anterior margin; a yellow line before the wings; wing-scale dull yellowish: scutel bright yellow, a little convex: wings slightly tinted with fuliginous; stigma dull honey-yellow; second cubital cellule four-angled; the recurrent nervures with slight processes: metathorax with a large yellow W be¬ hind, and a yellow spot at tip of the scutel: tergum rufous; second Segment not distinctly excavated at base each side; first segment as long as the second, slender, black at base and tinged with yellow at tip : coxa having a yellow spot: thighs black, the two anterior pairs varied with yellowish towards the tip: tibia yellow; anterior pairs havings black line behind; posterior pair black St North American Hymenoptera. 231 tip and at the extreme base: tarsi yellowish, terminal joint black at tip. $ Thorax with a quadrate yellow spot on the middle. Length over three fifths of an inch. The form of the abdomen is that of an Alomya, Panz. but the wings are not remarkably short, nor are the an¬ tennae convoluted. The markings of the metathorax are much like those of I. pectordlis, Nob. 11. I. residuus, Nob. (Contr. Macl. Lyc. p. 73) re¬ sembles suturdlis, Nob. but is much smaller, with tri- Cryptus, Fab. 1. C. orbus. Second cubital cellule incomplete; tho¬ rax with two dorsal yellow lines. Inhabits Indiana. Body black: orbits and hypostoma white: thorax with two lines on the disk and collar white: scut el, trans¬ verse line beneath it, and line each side at its base diverg¬ ing towards the base of the wings, white: wings hyaline; nervures fuscous ; second cubital cellule small, rounded, pentangular, the nervure of division from the third cellule wanting: metathorax whitish with about three black abbreviated lines: abdomen long, tapering to the base: tergum with the posterior margin of the first and second segments white; remaining segments more or less yel¬ lowish : pleura white, with a black furcate line: pectus and coxa white: feet honey-yellow: posterior feet , cox* with a black line; tarsi white; tibiae at tip and base blackish. Length less than one fourth of an inch. 2. C. discitergus . Whitish varied with black; ter¬ gum black, disk white. Say’s Descriptions of Inhabits Indiana. Body white, slightly tinged with yellow: antenna black: vertex with a black dot on the locality of the stemmata: thorax with an abbreviated black vitta before, and another vitta on each side, confluent upon the scutel, which is also black: metathorax black on the disk: wings hyaline; nervures brown: ter gum polished* black, with a dilated whitish spot in the middle; broadest rather behind the middle, and tapering to the base: oviduct less than half the length of the abdomen: posterior thighs with a blackish line each side: posterior tibia blackish at base and at tip. Length nearly three twentieths of an inch. Spins an oval, silken cocoon, of a white color slightly tinged with reddish. 3. C. conqutsitor. Black ; tergum with the posterior margins of the segments white ; feet honey-yellow ; pos¬ terior tibiae and tarsi with black joints. Inhabits Indiana. Body black, punctured: palpi white: thorax , punc¬ tures minute; a longitudinal white line before the wings: metathorax not distinctly punctured on the disk : wings very slightly tinged with dusky; fiervures blackish; stigma rather large, with its base and tip whitish; second cubital cellule oblique: tergum densely punctured on every part; segments on their posterior narrow margins white: oviduct about half the length of the abdomen: feet honey-yellow; intermediate and posterior tarsi white, the joints black at their tips; posterior tibiae black, white in the middle. Length one fourth of an inch. Resembles inquisitor, Nob., but the posterior margins of the segments of the tergum are white. North American Hymenoptera. 233 4. C. ductilis. Second cubital cellule petiolated; abdomen falcate. Inhabits Indiana. Body black ; basal joint of the antennae beneath, and mouth whitish ; thorax without obvious impressed lines : wings hyaline; nervures fuscous; second cubital cellule minute, petiolated: abdomen arcuated, slender at base, more dilated and compressed towards the tip, but not truncate ; honey-yellow, dusky at base: oviduct more than half the length of the abdomen, a little recurved, black: feet honey-yellow; anterior and intermediate coxae and trochanters whitish ; posterior feet rather more dusky. Length under three tenths of an inch. In the form of the abdomen and general appearance it resembles Anomalon ejunddus, Nob. 5. C. teneUus. Honey-yellow; wings banded. Inhabits Pennsylvania. $ Antenna blackish towards the tip: icings hyaline ; a fuliginous band before the middle, and a much dilated or double one beyond the middle including the stigma; stigma triangular and with the nervures brown; radial cellule wide; second cubital somewhat rounded, the exterior nervure wanting; apicial nervure obsolete: metaihorax beneath the scutel and at the insertion of the abdomen black: abdomen arcuated, blackish at tip: ovi¬ duct half as long as the abdomen. Length nearly three twentieths of an inch. 6. C. inquisitor , Nob. (Contrib. Macl. Lye. p. 71.) Tergum rather densely punctured in every part; seg¬ ments with a transverse, slightly indented, obtuse line in t ter whitish, with black lateral spots. ART III. 31 half the 234 Say’s Descriptions of Var. cf. Much larger; oviduct hardly over length of the abdomen. Length two fifths of an inch. 7. C. calipterus. Wings yellowish, fasciate; central eellule pentagonal. Inhabits Mexico. Body pale ferruginous yellow: antenna black, ferru¬ ginous at base, and with a white semi-annulus on the middle: scutel with its basal angles connected with the thorax by an elevated line: wings yellowish, a black band before the middle, another beyond the middle* con¬ nected in the form of a v with the black apicial margin; central cellule pentangular, its basal and apicial lines being nearly parallel: inferior wings with a dot in the middle, and apicial margin blackish : tergum with the third segment dusky or black at its base: oviduct black, nearly as long as the abdomen : posterior tibia blackish at tip. Length less than three fifths of an inch. The remarkable resemblance which exists between the present insect and the bifasddtus, Nob. in point of color, renders it necessary, in order to prevent mistake, that we should observe that in the Ufasddtus , the oviduct is not half the length of the abdomen, and the central cellule of its wing joins the radial cellule in an acute angle, its and apicial lines being confluent at the point of junction with 8. C. cen dusky at tip. Wings hyaline, fasciate ; inferior wings ? Body rufous, almost sanguineous, opake: antenna, excepting the tw Q basal joints, black with a white an¬ nulus in the middle ; wings hyaline, a blackish band on North American Hymenoptera. the middle, abbreviated before; another blackish band nearer the tip abbreviated behind; tip margin dusky; second cubital cellule pentangular, its basal and terminal lines not parallel: metathorax a little rugose each side, with a short, compressed tubercle each side on the de¬ clivity : tergum with the basal segment polished; third segment black at base: oviduct nearly as long as the abdomen: pleura with the incisures punctured: poste¬ rior tarsi a little paler. Length half an inch. This is very much like C. calipterus, Nob. but the wings are hyaline ; the cellules somewhat different; the inferior wings destitute of a central spot; the body is of a deep rufous color, &c. 9. C. pluriv'mctus. Black; segments of the tergum margined with white. Inhabits United States. Body black: thorax with a short line before the wings and wing-scale yellow : wings hyaline, with a slight dusky tinge; nervures blackish ; stigma rufous at the stricture ; second cubital cellule quadrangular, somewhat oblique, meeting the radial cellule in an angle: abdomen almost sessile: tergum with the first segment excavated near the base; densely punctured; all the segments with narrow, white posterior margins: oviduct exserted, short, hardly half the length of the abdomen: feet honey-yel¬ low ; posterior pair with the knees, tips of the tibiae and of each tarsal joint, black. Length over half an inch. S Hind pair of feet with an annulus on the tibiae and base of each tarsal joint, white. The male is much smaller than the female. I ob¬ tained a female from a follicle of the common folliculate 236 Say’3 Descriptions of Linnaean Bombyx, with transparent wings, which were extremely abundant a few years since in Maryland, caus¬ ing much apprehension for the safety of the trees of their choice. Some of them were obtained for me, by my friend Mr. Gilliams, for examination, when I described them under the name of hyalina, but did not publish the 10. C. gralldtor. Ferruginous, with black sutures and wings. Inhabits Indiana. Body ferruginous: head slightly yellowish on the orbits: mandibles black at tip: antenna dusky, before the tip yellowish: thorax with two obsolete, parallel, yellowish lines ; sutures before the wings and scutel black : wings violaceo-faliginous; nervures blackish ; stigma ferruginous; second cubital cellule rather large, pentangular, the side of the radial cellule much the smallest; two bullae and recurrent nervures each with one: metathorax with the sutures black: scutel rounded: abdomen clavate, falcate, gradually narrowed to the base, somewhat polished; posterior margins of the segments obsoletely yellowish; the base of the segments or incisures black : pleura and pectus with black sutures; separating suture between tbe pleura and metathorax black, includ¬ ing a yellow line: oviduct as long as tbe abdomen ; pos¬ terior pair of tibiae and tarsi paler than the thighs; poste¬ rior coxae nearly as long as the thighs. Length about three fifths of an inch. This insect differs- somewhat in appearance from its congeners. The form of the abdomen, excepting that it is not compressed, the fact that it originates higher upon the metathorax than others, and the elongated posterior coxae give it a little the air of a Fcenus, but the numer¬ ously jointed antennae place it in this family. 237 North American Hymenoptera. 11. C. nuncius. Black; abdomen excepting the base and tip rufous. Inhabits Pennsylvania. Body black : palpi white, blackish at tip ; antenna ? a long white annulus in the middle : thorax immaculate; two impressed lines: wings hyaline; nervures brown ; stigma rather slender; second cubital cellule rather large, pentagonal, the two angles on the radial nervure nearly rectangular; recurrent nervures almost rectilinear: ter- gum, basal segment wholly or in part black ; second, third and generally half of the fourth rufous or honey- yellow; remaining segments black: oviduct nearly half the length of the abdomen: feet honey-yellow; posterior pair of tibiae at tip and knees black; posterior tarsi pale yellowish. Length about two fifths of an inch. I obtained many specimens from the larva of Attacus promethea, Linn, several years ago. 12. C. subclavatus. Black; antennae subclavate, at base and feet honey-yellow. Inhabits United States. Body black: antenna on the basal half piceous or dark honey-yellow, dilating gradually towards the tip, terminal half dusky or black ; first joint robust: thorax depressed on the posterior disk, in which are longitudin¬ ally confluent punctures; a slightly elevated line before the bi-foveolate scutellar groove: wings, radial cellule rather wide and short; cubital cellule pentangular, sides subequal, angles at the radial cellule nearly rectangular: abdomen $ oval, honey-yellow, dusky or blackish at base and tip : oviduct nearly half the length of the abdomen: feet honey-yellow. Length under one fifth of an inch. 238 Say’s Descriptions of Approaches a little to the genus Helwigia by the form of its antennae. I found one specimen in Pennsyl¬ vania and another in this State. 13. C. micropterusy 9 . Black; feet and middle of the abdomen rufous; wings abbreviated. Inhabits Pennsylvania. Body black: antenna , honey-yellow, with a paler yellow annulation: palpi whitish: wings not reaching the tip of the metathorax : metathorax concave behind; posterior angles a little prominent: tergum polished, suboval; first segment black; second and third honey- yellow ; remaining segments black: oviduct half the length of the abdomen : feet honey-yellow, paler at their origin ; posterior pair of thighs and tibiae each at tip blackish. Length one fifth of an inch. This seems to be related to C. abbrevidtus, Fabr. but it has no “ striga alba.” Ofhion, Fabr. 1. O. purgdtus. Honey-yellow; two opake dots in the first cubital cellule. Inhabits Indiana. Body pale honey-yellow, somewhat sericeous: an¬ tenna rather longer than the body: orbits yellow, dilated before, so as to occupy the greater part of the hypostoma: ocelli large, prominent: wings hyaline; stigma slender; first cubital cellule with two opake, subtriangular spots ; second cubital cellule none: metathorax with a single, raised, rectilinear, transverse line, near the base. Length about seven tenths of an inch. This is much like an insect sent me by Mr. Winthem mm i m im Hllntiftf I flitrl 242 Saifs Descriptions of Body ferruginous, with crowded, discoidal punctures, giving the surface a reticulate appearance : head without obvious punctures; orbits tinged with yellow: antenna blackish; first joint yellowish beneath: thorax with a slightly impressed line before, and another each side be¬ hind, obsolete; dilated sutures about the scutel black: wings hyaline; nervures blackish; stigma rather slen¬ der ; second cubital cellule none, the anterior recurrent nervure obtusely arcuated; second recurrent nervure rectilinear : abdomen slender, dull honey-yellow, piceous black above and at tip, without large punctures : oviduct as long as the basal joint of the abdomen: feet dark honey-yellow: pleura above the anterior feet with ob¬ lique lines: pectus black. Length about two fifths ©f an inch. 3. A. mellipes. Black; feet honey-yellow; posterior thighs armed with a spine. Inhabits Indiana. Anomalon mellipes , Nob. Contrib. Macl. Lyc. p. 74. 9 Body black, polished: head with the distance be¬ hind the eyes considerable : labrum dull piceous: palpi dull whitish: thorax with the impressed lines rather deep, rendering the thoracic lobes very distinct: wings with a slight dusky tint: metathorax with an obvious spine on each side of the posterior declivity: feet honey- yellow : coxa and thighs robust, particularly those of the posterior pair, of which the thighs are* armed beneath near the tip with a prominent spine: oviduct as long as the body, or a little longer, somewhat compressed towards the tip. Length nearly seven twentieths of an inch. * North American Hymenojptera. $ Body a little hairy, lineated with impressed lines, which are more distinct on the metathorax, black, slightly tinged with piceous: antenna with a piceous tinge ; first joint not longer than the three following ones together: wings dusky; discoidal nearly as long again as broad ; second cubital sessile, the separating nervure from the first cubital rather abruptly inflected* towards the base, and nearer the base almost obsolete, the other including nervure rectilinear; separating nervures between the first cubital and radial, and the second and third cubitals, forming a broken or slightly dislocated line, the former almost entering the third cubital: metathorax without lineations on the posterior declivity, the spines distinct : abdomen polished, without lines; petiolar segments or nodes very distinct, subequal, the posterior one rather larger and spherical: feet more obviously tinged with piceous at base. Length less than one fifth of an inch.. The connexion between the radial and second cubital is very slightly petiolated, and the separating nervure be¬ tween the first and second cubitals, is almost or quite angulated, and is less distinct towards its junction with the discoidal cellule. 5. M. dimidiata . Body pale yellowish: thorax some¬ what tinged with piceous: wings with a very slight tinge of yellowish ; discoidal cellule in length nearly twice its breadth; separating nervure between the first and second cubital cellules abruptly ending at the middle of the usual length, being entirely wanting on the basal half. Length over one fifth of an inch. 6. M. molesta. 9 Body pale honey-yellow, immacu¬ late: antenna with the two ultimate joints much larger Say’s Descriptions of than the others; the terminal one as large again as the penultimate one: wings whitish; smaller cubital cellule none ; discoidal cellule very small, less than half as large as the first cubital; first cubital receiving the recurrent nervure near its base; nervure of the radial cellule ter¬ minating abruptly before the tip; the two othef apicial nervures feebly traced towards the tip and not reaching the tip : metathorax unarmed. • Length less than three twentieths of an inch. This is called the “ little yellow ant,” and is frequently found in houses in great numbers. They sometimes eat vegetable food, and some of'my garden seeds have severely suffered by tbeir attacks. They also devour grease, olive oil, &c. Their sting is like the puncture of a very fine needle. I placed a piece of meat on a win¬ dow board frequented by these little depredators ; it was soon absolutely covered by them, and thus enabled me to destroy thousands, every few hours that 1 returned to examine the bait, for several days, during which time their apparent numbers scarcely diminished. 7. M. minuia. Pale yellowish; destitute of spines on the metathorax. Inhabits Indiana. * Body whitish-yellow: head rather large: antenna , terminal joint three times as long as the preceding one: eyes small, black and placed low down: peduncle rather long: abdomen oval; very pale honey-yellow. Length (neuter) less than three fifths of an inch. [Is it not the same as the molesta 1 Editors.] This may possibly prove to be an Atta. I obtained only a single specimen, which was found entangled in the nails and tarsi of a specimen of Gorttes phalerdtus, Nob. in my cabinet. It does not appear to have a spine on any part, but there are a few scattered hairs. North American Hymenoptera . 295 Mutilla, Linn. J. M. contractu. Black; above ferruginous; wings blackish. Inhabits Arkansaw and Missouri. I Body entirely black beneath, inclusive of the feet: above ferruginous-yellowish: head black below the line of the eyqg : metathorax, petiole, anterior and lateral de¬ clivities of the abdomen black. $ anterior half of the first segment of the tergum black: wings blackish-fulig¬ inous, somewhat paler in the middle ; second cubital cellule wide beneath and contracted but not angulated at the radial cellule; third cubital cellule so much con¬ tracted at base that its extreme nervure is opposite to and joins the recurrent nervure. Length about half an inch. The neuration of the wings somewhat resembles that of the maura, F. and is nearly the same as that of the erythrina, Klug, of Mexico. I obtained several speci¬ mens from Missouri, and Mr. Nuttall gave me one from Arkansaw. .. 2. M. hexagona. $ Black ; abdomen honey-yellow. Inhabits Indiana and Missouri. Body black, much punctured, and with a slight reflec¬ tion of silvery hairs, particularly on the head, on the anterior segment of the thorax and on the metathorax: thorax with, four slight, impressed lines, and numerous confluent punctures: metathorax reticulate with punc¬ tures, and with a slight groove from the base nearly to the middle: wings dark purplish-fuliginous ; radial cel¬ lule rounded at tip, not truncate ; third cubital cellule 296 Say's Descriptions of rounded hexangular, with abbreviated nervures from the two outer angles ; a white line passes through the cubital cellules, and a white spot is in the outer discoidal cellule: abdomen rufous or bright honey-yellow; first or petiole segment black: feet silvery hairy. Length from half an inch to nearly seven tenths. The neuration of the wings is much like that of the M. Italica, F. even to the white line and small spot; but the third cubital cellule is still more regularly hexa¬ gonal and the radial cellule is not truncate at tip like those of the Italica and melanura, Klug, and many other species. 3. M. vigilant. $ Black; large abdominal segment, excepting its anterior and posterior margins, rufous. Inhabits Pennsylvania. Body black ; with large, dense punctures: thorax with three, somewhat elevated lines and a slight appear* ance of another each side : wing-scale convex, lineate on the margin; the outer and hinder margins lineated with minute, elevated, parallel lines: wings purplish-black; radial cellule truncate at tip ; first cubital cellule bisected by a white line; second cubital gradually and regularly narrowed to the base, with an abbreviated white line at tip; third cubital hexagonal, not contracted, the two ex¬ terior angles with abbreviated nervures; exterior discoidal cellule with a white dot : metathorax discoidally punc¬ tured; dorsal groove extending beyond the middle; large basal segment of the abdomen with large remote punctures, smaller and closer on the sides, bright rufous, its basal and terminal margins black. Length over three fifths of an inch. Resembles M. Italica , F. but differs in greater depth of color, in the lineations of the wing-scale, greater length North American Hymenoptera. 299 Tengyka, Latr. Klug. T. stygia. Black ; mandibles piceous at tip. Inhabits Indiana. Body entirely black, immaculate, punctured: mandi¬ bles piceous at tip; near the tip one-toothed: wings hya¬ line ; nervures black, separating nervure of the first and second cubital cellules wanting: stigma obvious, black: abdomen , segments contracted near the incisures: oviduct not extending beyond the terihinal processes and con¬ cealed beneath them. Length two fifths of an inch. Resembles T. sanvitali, Latr., but is larger, with a much larger stigma, and each abdominal segment is much more contracted before its posterior incisure. Methoca, Latr. M. bicolor. 9 Rufous ; head and part of the tergum black. Inhabits Indiana. Body pale yellowish-rufous, polished : head black: antennae rufous, terminal joints piceous: mandibles and palpi rufous : thorax, segments subequal; anterior and posterior ones convex, subovate, intermediate one with two slightly elevated convexities : abdomen ovate-subfu- siform: tergum with a transverse, triangular black spot at the tip of the second segment, another on the third, the remaining ones confluent. Length one fourth of an inch. The abdomen does not contract abruptly to the petiole but subsides gradually. Vander Linden says that the species of this genus are the females of species of Ten- oyra. [Ann. des Sc. Nat. Jan. 1829, p. 48.] 300 Say’s Descriptions of Tiphia, Fabr. Latr. T. tarda. Body polished, black, punctured : mandi¬ bles piceous in the middle : metathorax with three longi¬ tudinal lines, and the minute lines on the margin of the posterior declivity very regular and obvious: wings tinged with honey-yellow; nervures brown; stigma black: incisure of the first abdominal segment not very much contracted; second segment at its basal margin with the minute longitudinal lines very regular and dis¬ tinct : palpi dull piceous. Inhabits Indiana. Length about three tenths of an inch. The smallest species 1 have seen, and may be distin¬ guished from its American congeners by its size. The male has the metathoraeic lineations more distinct. It is smaller than the femorata, of Europe. Myzine, Latr. Klug. L M. hamatus. Black; thorax spotted and abdominal segments margined with yellow ; the latter not abruptly emarginate each side. Inhabits Indiana. f Anthracite from Mansfield, Mass. This coal is found in a bed on the estate of Mr. Alfred ftardon. The bed, which is two feet wide, is included in grau-wacke, with wacke impregnated with carbon, and intersected by numerous stems of fossil plants, be¬ longing apparently to the EQUISETACEJE. Carbonifer¬ ous slate, or slate filled with impressions of species of the genus of fossil plants called Neuropteris by Brong- niart, and containing casts of a plant closely allied to the cactus tribe, is also found in immediate contact with the coal. One species similar to the Eq,uisetum stettiformis, Harlan, was also found. The strata and bed of coal run E. N. E., W. S. W., and dip 52° to the N. N. W. The specimens of coal analyzed were taken from the bed by myself, and were examined a few days after my visit to Mansfield. Oct. 30th, 1835. Two specimens were selected for analysis. The specific gravity of one was 1.71 and of the other 1.73, A specimen of anthracite from Peach Mountain, Pa., was of the specific gravity 1.49. The specimen of anthracite from Mansfield, whose specific gravity was 1.71, pulverized and submitted to analysis, by mixing it with chloride of sodium and nitre, and deflagrating it in a red hot platina crucible, and then separating, dissolving and precipitating the foreign mat¬ ters, gave, in 100 grains, ^ arbon 98 The other specimen gave Per oxide of iron and alumina 2 Carbon 96 —— Per oxide of iron and alumina 4 This coal bums like the Peach Mountain anthracite, and leaves red ashes. Explorations are now going on for the purpose of discovering a wider bed. lOSTON JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. Vol. I. MAY, 1837. No. 4. ART. XVII.—DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA, AND OBSERVATIONS ON SOME ALREADY DESCRIBED. By Thomas Say. [Concluded from p. 305 ] Meria, Jur. M. costdta, 9 Black ; tergum with yellpw bands and two spots. Inhab. Indiana. Body black: head above thg*ntennse with a transverse line, slightly interrupted in fflfe middle, an orbital line, and short line behind the eyes, yellow: mandibles pice- ous: thorax with two transverse‘spots before, a small, triangular one above the wing-scale, a transverse one be¬ hind the scutel, and a bi-lobed one each side behind, yel¬ low ; each side of the middle of the thorax are two abbreviated, somewhat oblique, impressed lines: meta- thorax with a double yellow longitudinal side and obvious transverse rugs: pleura, with a triangular spot under the superior wings, a small oblique line over the intermediate feet, yellow : wings with a brown costal margin : tergum VOL. I.-PART IV. 47 362 Say’s Descriptions of with a yellow band on the middle or before it, of each segment, excepting the last; the second band interrupted into two transverse, oval spots: venter with a longitudinal, lateral spot on the second segment and a transverse lateral one on the third, yellow: tarsi and intermediate and posterior pairs of tibia piceous; a yellow spot on the posterior coxae. Length half an inch. Var. «. Middle of the thorax with a small double yellow spot. The observations which I had occasion to make relative to the generic affinities of Plesia margindta , Nob., are exactly applicable to this species. It agrees precisely with Jurine’s character of Plesia, but differs from Mi- zine, Latr. by having the mandibles entirely destitute of teeth, a character which it has in common with Meria, Ill., but the form of its wing-scale, will not admit of its being referred to the latter genus; I have, however, in this instance, been guided by the characters laid down by Latreille in the Regne Animale (first Edition). 2. M. margindta . (Plesia marginata, Nob., Western Quarterly Reporter). g|k -3. M.- colldris . CollaTwith an interrupted band and two spots yellow. Inhab. Indiana. Body black: head with two spots above the antennae, frontal orbits, and dilated line behind the eyfes, yellow : mandibles dark piceous, black at tip: collar with an interrupted band on the posterior margin and two spots before, yellow: thorax with a small yellow spot above the wings: wing-scale dull honey-yellow with a yellow spot: wings yellowish, fuliginous, dusky on the costal margin towards the tip ; behind the scutel is a transverse North American Hymenoptera. 363 yellow line: metathorax somewhat sericeous, without any appearance of rugae, and with two yellow longitudinal spots: tergum with a somewhat varied reflection; first and second segments with a lateral yellow spot, (those of the former probably, in some specimens obsoletely con^ nected); third and fourth segments with a lateral basal yellow spot, connected by a slender line; fifth, 'segment with an obsolete yellow lateral spot: pleura with a yel¬ low spot under the anterior wfngs: feet , anterior knees and tibial dilated line yellow ; intermediate and posterior tibiae and all the tarsi ferruginous: anal segment above minutely lineated, and at tip, dull ferruginous. Length over three fifths of-an inch. This species is larger than costata , Nob. which it much resembles, but may be distinguished by the sericeous appearance of the metathorax and the absolute destitution of rugae on that part; in the costata also, the lateral spots of the metathorax are double. Scocia, Fabr. 1. S. ephippium. Black §gtergum bi-fasciate with fulvous. Inhab. Mexico. Body black: wings dark violaceous; cubital cellules two, the second receiving two recurrent nervures, and with an abbreviated nervure proceeding from its base towards the tip of the wing: tergum violaceous-black; second and third segments fulvous, with a narrow basal and terminal black margin: beneath black: venter slightly tinged with violaceous : thighs not remarkably robust. Length $ over one inch and one tenth. A large and fine species. 364 Say’s Descriptions of 2* S. dubia. Black; abdomen ferruginous behind, with two yellow spots on the third segment. Inbab. United States. Body black : head and thorax immaculate: wings dark violet-blue: cubital cellules two, with no appearance of more than one recurrent nervure : abdomen , first and second segments black ; remaining segments ferruginous; more hairy, somewhat, than the others; the third seg¬ ment, however, more or less tinged with blackish and with two transversely oval, a little oblique, bright yellow spots. Length four fifths of an inch. A very fine, though rather common species, in various parts of the Union. 3. S. confiuenta ; Nob. (Western Quarterly Reporter). I think it highly probable that Drury’s fig. 5, pi. 44, vol. i, is intended for this insect. I was deterred from quoting this figure in consequence of its yellow head and four- banded tergum ; but the head is truly, on its front and base, covered with yellowish cinereous hair, as well as the anterior part of the collar ; this may agree with Drury’s observation that the “head is of a pale yellow, in front” and “ the neck is hairy and of a lemon color/’ The species also probably varies in having four yellow bands. Drury’s figure is that of a female, and my speci¬ men agrees with it in having an immaculate thorax and scutel, as in the fossulana, Fabr. which I believe to be m reality, the female of this same species, and of course the same as that of Drury; whereas he quotes Drury’s figure as that of radula, F. which appears to be the male, if I may judge by the “ thorace maculato” and other corresponding characters. I have no index to the first volume of Drury, but Fabricius quotes the figure as SffifjfW; frff inHHt 367 North American Hymenoptera. thorax with a very small fulvous, abbreviated line each side of the middle, and a small, double, fulvous spot behind the middle: scutel with a white lateral spot': metathorax with a white line at base and an oblique one each side towards the tip: tergum varied with yellow and black or green and black; the posterior margins of the segments, dull rufous ; about four distinct black spots: feet - honey- yellow : thighs black beneath: tarsi paler: venter honey- yellow, with a black spot before the anterior spine. Length from seven tenths to four fifths of an inch. With the short maxillary palpi and the one toothed mandible of Bembex, this insect has the radial and last cubital cellules as widely separated at their tips as in Monedula. The proboscis is not folded, but extended horizontally beneath the body. These characters may justify the j formation of a distinct genus, or at least of a division, under the name of- Steniolia. 2. B. fasciata, Fabr. A male in my cabinet has six bands upon the tergum and two spots on the ultimate segment ; the first band is double the width of that of the female, and is interrupted by a very small space only; second band not interrupted, but its two lunules are so continued as to enclose two black spots; third band with the lunules not or hardly interrupted; fourth and fifth bands interrupted; sixth band entire, undulated ; spots on the ultimate segment, orbicular; the female has but five bands. Gorytes, Latr. G. phaleratus. Black, sericeous, varied with yellow ; wings dusky. Inhab. Indiana. 368 Say’s Descriptions of Body blackish, impunctured: head golden sericeous: antenna , basal joint yellowish: nasus and mouth , except¬ ing the tip of the mandibles, pale yellow: thorax , poste¬ rior margin of the collar, abbreviated line over the wings, and wing-scale, yellow: scutel yellow: wings dusky, purplish-fuliginous, tinged with yellowish towards the base; stigma small ; second cubital cellule obviously hexagonal: metathorax with two large, oblong-oval, yellow spots; triangle at base, destitute of small lines and with but a single impressed line: fergum , basal segment yellow; posterior narrow margin, and lobed spot on the disk com¬ municating with the base, black; second segment yellow on the posterior margin, the yellow rather dull and a little undulated on its inner edge : third and fourth seg¬ ments with obsolete yellowish posterior margins : pleura somewhat silvery sericeous, with three almost confluent yellow spots in a line with the collar: feet pale, honey- yellow ; thighs and coxa, with more or less of black above. Length about half an inch. This is a large species. The character which Jurine mentions as, common to all the species, of having behind the scutel a triangular space, in which parallel lines are sculptured, is so modified in this species as to present the triangle with only a simple longitudinal impressed line. Nvsson, Latr. N. aurinotus. Black ; metathorax two-spined; tergum with three lateral spots. Inhab. Indiana. Body black, punctured : head before with a slight yellowish sericeous reflection ; mandibles piceous: collar 1. p. 370 Say’s Descriptions of *’ which, however, has the second and third cellules each receiving a recurrent nervure, and the petiole is propor¬ tionally rather shorter., 2. P. leucopus. Black ; hypostoma silvery; tarsi white. Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black, with a slight silvery reflection : anten¬ na immaculate: hypostoma entirely silvery: thorax with minute, longitudinal lines on the disk: wings hyaline: nervures blackish; second cubital cellule receiving the two recurrent nervures : ter gum impunctured, polished; petiole slightly arcuated, rather shorter than the posterior tarsus : tarsi white, dusky towards the tip. Length over three tenths of an inch. $ Lines of the thorax only visible at base and tip. S Length over one fifth of an inch. Lyrops, Illig. 1. L. argentdta, Beauv. Black ; tergum, segments margined with dark glaucous; metathorax with a few wrinkles on the posterior lateral margin. Inhab. United States. 9 Body black: collar having a gradually elevated angle on the middle: wings slightly dusky; a darker and at tip; by an obliquely transmitted light, opalescent, varying to purplish, and at tip, in the darker portion, tinged with green; recurrent nervures entering the second cubital ce u e very near to each other, but little more than their own width apart : metathorax , posterior lateral edge wrin e transversely: tergum, posterior marg ins of the North American Hymenoptera. 37*1 segments dark glaucous, without any bright silvery re¬ flection : posterior pair of tibia at tip behind, with a fer¬ ruginous spot. $ More slender, wrinkles of the. meta¬ thorax less obvious, and the recurrent nervures at their entrance into the second cubital cellule not quite so close together. Length 9 nearly half an inch. The color of the wings, by a particular, obliquely trans¬ mitted light, is very beautifully pearlaceous and somewhat iridescent. 2. L. peptica. Black; tergum fasciate with glaucous, reflecting silvery. Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black; reflecting silvery, particularly" on the head and feet: palpi piceous-yellowish: collar silvery on the posterior margin : thorax and, scutel having their sutures reflecting silvery: icings hyaline ; nervures honey- yellow ; recurrent nervures moderately near each other at their junction with the second cubital cellule: tergum , segments excepting the ultimate one, on their posterior margins glaucous reflecting silvery; anal segment with a bright golden reflection : feet black, reflecting silvery ; last tarsal joint rufous. Length over half an inch. $ Head and base of the mandibles with a golden re flection : anal segment reflecting silvery. Length under half an inch. The black tibiae and tarsi will at once distinguish this species from aurulenta, F., than which it is also smaller. 3. L. aurulenta , F. (Larra) Syst. Piez. p. 220. 372 Say’s Descriptions of 4. L. triloba. Deep black, irflwa6ulate: head anterior to the antennae with a slight silvery reflection : mandibles dull rufous towards the base : collar somewhat trilobate, or having above, an obvious angle in the middle and a more obtuse one on each side : thorax having a distinct, impressed, longitudinal line before: wings purple-fuHgi- nous, almost opake ; recurrent nervures rather distant at their junction with the second cubital cellule : tergum in a particular light, more obviously sericeous on the posterior margins of the segments. Length over half an inch. This has very much the appearance of Larra JEthiops, Nob. but is much larger. In that species also the collar is emarginate in the middle, the wings are but very slightly tinted, and the recurrent nervures approximate at their junction with the second cubital cellule; it has but one ocellus, and the mandibles are not obviously armed with a tooth on the inner edge. 5. L. subita. Black ; tergum, segments margined with a whitish reflection; metathorax wrinkled above. Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black : head before with a somewhat silvery reflection : collar with an abruptly elevated angle in the middle : wings at tip dusky; recurrent nervures entering the second cubital cellule, at a distance from each other; third cubital cellule but little narrowed : metathorax with small, transverse wrinkles on the disk as well as on the sides: tergum, posterior margins of the segments with a silvery reflection. Length North American Hymenoptera. 373 Resembles caliptera, but Ajfcy be distinguished by the greater width of the third cubital cellule; by the greater distance between the recurrent nervures at their entrance into the second cubital, and by the more wrinkled meta¬ thorax. Trtpoxxlon, F. Latr. 1. T. politus. Black; very highly polished ; without any silvery reflection; thorax and scutel with a slightly impressed, longitudinal line : icings black-purple, almost opake : abdomen rather less slender at base than that of T. jigulus, F. but the basal joint is rather abruptly slender on its basal half; this segment has an abbreviated, im¬ pressed, longitudinal line before its tip ; second segment with a similar line before its middle: on the head and stethidium are very numerous, small punctures, but none on the abdomen: posterior tarsi white, first joint at base, and pul villi blackish. Inhab. Indiana. Length nine tenths of an inch. Judging by memory, as I have not his work here, this is probably the albitarsa, Beauvois, but although it agrees with the short description of Fabricius, yet I greatly doubt if it is the albitarsa of this author, who gives its native country as South America, on the authority of Mr. Smith and of the Museum of Mr. Lund, from whom and from Mr. Sebestedt he obtained an opportunity to describe a great number of Hymenoptera of that portion of our hemisphere; and but two species from North America. For these reasons I have been led to consider the albi¬ tarsa, F. as South American ; and as Latreille says that every thirty degrees of latitude exhibits a total change 374 (Say’s Descriptions of in the insect'productions, I give a new name to this spe- 2. T. clavdtus. Abdomen at base slender and a little nodulous; wings at tip dusky. Inhab. United States. Body black ; head and stethidium with silvery reflec¬ tion : wings hyaline, terminal margin dusky: abdomen clavate; the first and second joints petioliform, a little nodulous at their tips: posterior tarsi white; the terminal joint and base of the first joint black; $ with a spine on the posterior trochanter. Length about nine twentieths of an inch. Var. a. Terminal joints of the tarsi blackish; a yellow band at base of the second segment of the terguip. Judging from memory, as in the preceding instance, I suppose this to be the fuscipennis, Beauvois,but not that of Fabricius, for the reasons there adduced. I may also state that this species does not correspond with Fabricius’ description m having “ alae nigrse cyaneo parum nitidae,” neither does it agree with “ Pedes nigri tarsis albis” inas- : much as the posterior pair only are partially white. 3. T. carindtus. $ Black ; head and stethidium with silvery reflection: a prominent, acute carina between the antenna emarginate beneath towards the middle : wings hyaline ; a slight tint of dusky at tip : tergum gradually attenuated to the base ; three first incisures a little con¬ tracted : feet, anterior pair of kniees, tibiae and tarsi yet* lowish ; intermediate knees and tarsi yellowish, the latter in the middle above dusky; posterior tarsi obscurely yel¬ lowish towards the tip. Inhab. Indiana. Length three tenths of an inch. North American Hymenoptera. 375 Remarkable by the carina of the head and the emar- ginate antennas. It is much smaller than the Jigulus, F. and its abdomen is formed as in that species. Oxybelus, Latr. 1. O. emargindtus. Black ; . scutellar spine emar- ginate; tergum 4-spotted. Inhab. Indiana. Body black, with a slight silvery reflection, particularly on the anterior part of the head : antenna dull yellowish at tip : wing-scale honey-yellow : toings hyaline: scutel with a dilated process widely emarginate at tip, and a lateral sublanceolate, decurved, acute, white one: tergum , first segment with a longitudinal, indented line and a transverse, abbreviated, white line at tip each side; second segment also with a similar line: tarsi pale honey- yellow : anterior thighs yellow at tip: tibia yellow; posterior pair black, yellow at base. Length over three twentieths of an inch. 2. O. 4 -notdtus, Nob. Long’s Expedition. : The male is almost destitute of spots on the second 'segment of the tergum, and all the tibiae have a white line. This species resembles the O. irispinosus, Fabr. but that insect may be distinguished by the dilated figure of the spot on the basal segment df the tergum and by the tibiae, being entirely honey-yellow. 3. O. latus. ‘ Line on the collar, cm the scutel and five lateral spots on the tergum yellow. Inhab. Indiana. $ Body black, punctured : head with a slight silvery reflec tion : antenna ferruginous : mandibles yellow, pice- 376 Say’s Descriptions of, * ous at tip : collar with a transverse, somewhat undulated yellow line, interrupted in the middle: scutel with a double, transverse, yellow spot : metathorax with the middle spine simple j the lateral ones depressed, whitish, margined on the inner side with bright yellow : tergum with five yellow spots on each side : Icnees, tarsi and tibia yellow, the latter with a dilated black line on the inner side. Length nearly one fifth of an'inch. . Smaller than mucronatus, F., which is destitute of the scutellar line. It may be distinguished from the preceding species, by the yellow color on the collar and scutel. Crabro, Fabr. C. confiuentus. Black, with large confluent punctures; tergum interruptedly fasciate. Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black, densely and confluently punctured, particularly on the stethidium, where they are sometimes longitudinally confluent, so as to exhibit lines between them; they are largest on the metathorax: hypostoma and anterior orbits behind the basal joint of the antenn®, silvery : antenna, basal joint yellow; second joint honey- yellow: collar yellow, slightly interrupted in the middle : scutel with a large, transverse, yellow spot; a yellow transverse line behind it: wings slightly tinged with dusky : abdomen oval, rather abruptly narrowed at base: tergum with the incisures contracted, the segments being convex; approximately punctured; segments on their middles, each with an equal band which is interrupted for only a narrow space at the middle: pleura with a yellow spot at the humerus: knees, tibia and tarsi yellow: venter immaculate. 377 North American Hymenoptera. Length over three tenths of an inch. Spot of the scutel interrupted or wanting; antennae beneath dull honey-yellow; the two posterior bands of the tergum generally confluent in their middles; abdomen longer and more slender than that of the female. Length three tenths of ah inch. The sexes are more'readily distinguished by the tip of their abdomen than by the antennae. I have nine males and three females: two of the latter measure two fifths of an inch. The punctures of this species are larger and more dense than in our other species. C. arcmtns. Metathorax with numerous parallel lines; tergum with yellow spots and bands. Inhab. Indiana. Body black, with minute, dense punctures: front with a wide glabrous interval between the silvery orbits: anten¬ na, basal joint yellow, with a black line near the inner base ; sixth joint arcuated, a little prominent inwardly at tip : hypostoma yellowish-silvery : thorax with a slightly interrupted line on the collar of a bright yellow; a yellow transverse line beneath the scutel: wings a little tinged with dusky: metathorax with numerous, small, parallel lines, arcuated at base, and transversely rectilinear behind, extending upon the pleura beneath the wings: pleura with two small yellow spots before: tergum with an oblique somewhat arcuated, yellow spot each side of the first segment; an oblique elliptic one on the second seg¬ ment each side; a reclivate, transverse, lateral yellow line on the third ; remaining segments each with an en¬ tire, slightly undulated, slender greenish-yellow band: anal processes acute, very deeply and regularly ciliated : feet yellow : coxa and trochanters black : thighs at the base black ; the black portion very small on the anterior 378 Say’s Descriptions of pair, but on the. posterior pair extending on the inferior surface to the tip : venter immaculate. Length two fifths of an inch. Stigmus, Jot. Latr. 1. S. parallelus. This species resembles the fratemus Nob. but it may be distinguished by the following com¬ parative characters. The posterior thighs and middle of the tibiae are black. The stigma is a little smaller. The dividing nervure of the first and second cubital cellules is parallel to the posterior nervure of the second discoidal cellule; whereas in the fratemus , the latter is more oblique. The size is much the same. Inhabits Mexico. The Stigmus fratemus , is not uncommon in Indiana, and as in the present species, the hypostoma of the male is somewhat silvery. 2. S. pusillus. Petiole obsolete: second cubital cel¬ lule large. Inhab. Indiana. Body black, polished: head before and mouth , includ¬ ing the mandibles, whitish: antenna honey-yellow; basal Joint before, whitish : wings hyaline ; nervures pale brownish ; stigma fuscous ; second cubital cellule large, somewhat longer than broad : feet honey-yellow; poste¬ rior pair blackish ; abdomen with a very short petiole, almost sessile. Length about one twelfth of an inch. This is much the smallest species I have seen. The dividing nervure of the first and second cubital cellules is exactly opposite to the posterior nervure of the middle discoidal cellule. The hypostoma of the female is black. North American Hymenoptera. 379 Pemphredon, Latr. 1. P. marginatus. Black; antennae at base, mandibles and feet honey-yellow. Inhab. Pennsylvania. « Body polished : antennd , blackish first and second joints honey-yellow; the former as long as the second and third together, which are nearly equal: mandibles hOney- yellow, not very obviously denticulated at tip: wings tinted with fuliginous ; nervures brown ; stigma fuscous, not much dilated ; nervures of the second cubital cellule and second recurrent nervure margined with whitish, the latter abbreviated before the anal tip: abdomen subsessile ; with the exception of the first segment, piceous blackish: feet honey-yellow. Length over three twentieths of an inch. The second cubital cellule is somewhat larger than usual, and the nervures which form it, as well as the second recurrent nervure, are less distinct than usual. 2. P. annulatus. Black; mandibles white ; feet yel- Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black, polished, minutely punctured: antenna, basal joint white ; second joint piceous : nasus prominent in the middle: mandibles and palpi white: wing-scale dull honey-yellow: wings hyaline; nervures blackish, tinged with yellow at base ; first and second cubital cel¬ lules receiving their appropriate recurrent nervures: meta¬ thorax with larger punctures arid lines: abdomen polished, impunctured, subsessile, the petiole being, very short: pleura with a small whitish dot under the wing-scale: feet honey-yellow. Length one fifth of an inch. 380 Say’s Descriptions of $ Hypostoma, silvery: nasus rounded: antenna annu¬ late, one half of each joint being yellowish. Length over three twentieths of an inch. Alyson, Jur. L A. oppositus. Blackfeet honey-yellow; tergum with two yellow spots. Inhab. Indiana. $ Body black : mouth, hypostoma, and anterior orbits yellow: antenna at base beneath yellow: thorax with an obsolete yellow spot before the wings each side: wings very slightly tinted with dusky, more particularly in an obsolete band towards the tip : nervures fuscous : stigma brown: recurrent nervures entering the petiolated cellule exactly opposite to its bounding nervures: spines very short: feet honey-yellow: tergum polished; first segment honey-yellow; second segment with a large, lobately- rounded, bright yellow spot each side at base ; the base is also obsoletely honey-yellow. $ Antenna, terminal joint as long as the first, arcuat¬ ed : wings not distinctly tinted with dusky except in the radial Cellule: abdomen, with the exception of the two yefiow spots, black: tarsi paler than the tibiae and thighs. Var. Yellow spots of the tergum obsolete. Length three tenths of an inch. In form, size and color, very similar to A. spindsus, (Pompilus,) Panzer. But in that species the feet are blackish, &c. 2. A. melleus. 9 Honey-yellow ; head, pectus, and tip of the abdomen black. Inhab. Indiana. Thorax honey-yellow: head black: mouth, anterior North American Hymenoptera. orbits and basal joint of the antenna excepting a line on the exterior side, whitish : region of the scutel, dusky : icings with a dusky band: metathorax honey-yellow with the elevated lines rather slender ; the lateral lines of the dorsal area arcuated: tergum with the first and second segments honey-yellow, the latter with a lateral whitish spot; remaining segments blackish ; anal segment obscure piceous: pectus black: feet , excepting the base of the posterior coxae, honey-yellow. Length under one fourth of an inch. The prevailing honey-yellowish color distinguishes this species ; and the metathoracic lineations are much finer than those of the preceding species. 'The lateral lines of the dorsal area of the metathorax in the oppositus are nearly rectilinear. Cerceris, Latr. 1. C. fumipemis. $ Black; tergum.with a broad band and very narrow ones ; wings blackish. Inhab. Indiana. Body black, densely punctured : head with a golden, sub-orbicular, orbital spot beneath the line of the antennae, and dense golden ciliae each side at the mouth : antenna entirely black : collar with two yellow spots: behind the scutel a transverse, yellow line : wing-scale with a small yellow spot: wings blackish; first recurrent nervure en¬ tering opposite to the dividing nervure of the first and second cubital cellules: tergum, incisures wide; first seg¬ ment rounded; second with a broad, equable, terminal band; remaining segments with each a terminal capillary band, more or less interrupted in the middle ; posterior band wider and somewhat irregular : tibia yellow pale. fill I Sllrlllfll North American Hymenoptera. 383 more or less varied with bright yellow: venter with inter¬ rupted bands. Length over half an inch. This was given to me by Nuttall. With the exception of frontdta and bidentata, Nob. this is the largest North American species I have seen, and the much more dilated bands of the tergum are distinctive. Philanthus, Fabr. Latr. P. solivagus. Black, with small punctures; tergum fasciate on each segment. Inhab. Indiana. 3 Body black; punctures numerous, small: hypos- toma, anterior orbits, to the emargination, and large spot above the insertion of the antennae yellow: collar, margin yellow, slightly interrupted in the middle: stethidium immaculate : iving-scale yellow : wings very slightly tinged with dusky; nervures fuscous, towards the base and stigma honey-yellow: tergum, segments having each a greenish yellow band on the posterior submargin, that of the first segment largest, the others subequal; sixth segment immaculate : pleura, pectus and venter immacu¬ late : knees, tibia, and tarsi yellow: posterior pair of tibiae with a spot on the posterior tip and their tarsi above tinged with ferruginous. Length two fifths of an inch. Rygchium, Spinola. 1. R. baltedtum. $ Black, thorax and head varied with ferruginous ; tergum with a yellow band. 384 Say's Descriptions of Body black, punctured : head ferruginous ; region of the stemmata, black: antenna black, first and second and half of the third joints ferruginous : thorax with a broad ferruginous margin, including the scutel, and with more or less of ferruginous in the middle ; anterior margin with a slender yellow line interrupting the ferruginous margin: wings black-violaceous : feet yellowish: thighs dusky at base : tergum, first segment impunctured, on the poste¬ rior margin a yellow band abruptly dilated each side; second segment slightly punctured at base, posterior indented, with large punctures, and dull ferruginous; remaining segments punctured. Var. a. Behind the scutel a transverse, yellow, ab¬ breviated line. Var. 0. Posterior margins of the terminal segments of the tergum, obsoletely ferruginous. Var. *. The ferruginous color predominates having but a small portion of black on the thorax ; the tergum is ferruginous with only a line of black on the first segment, and a triangle of black at base of the. second segment; but the yellow band on the first segment is still visible though less obvious. Length over four fifths of an inch. Not a common insect. 2. R. 5-fascidtum, Nob. (Pterochilus, Appendix to Long’s second Expedition). I am not sure of the generic place of my specimens as they have lost their trophi. 3. R. crypticum, Nob. (Odtnerus, Western Quarterly Reporter). 4. R. annulatum , Nob. (Odvnerus, Appendix to Long’s second Expedition). North American Hymenoptera. 385 Odynerus, Latr. 1. O. quadrisectus . Black; trunk before and behind, tergum before and a band, white. Inhab. United States. Body black, punctured : head with a small spot above the interval of the antennas, line on the basal joint of the antennae, superior lateral margin of the clypeus and slight spot on base of the mandibles obscure white : thorax , a bi-lobed band on the anterior margin, spot beneath the wing, triangular spot each side on the scutel, transverse line behind the scutel* behind that again on each side is a very large triangular spot extending down almost to the origin pf the abdomen, white ; edge of the posterior declivity of the metathorax with a slight bifid, transverse, denticulated crest: wings dark violaceous: tergum , first segment white, with a dorsal, triangular, lohated black spot communicating with the black anterior declivity ‘ r second segment with an undulated, dull white band behind and an obsolete, very small spot of the same color each side before the middle: feet with short, whitish sericeous hair. Length over seven tenths of an inch* This is much like the quadridens, Linn, which is a true Odynerus, but it is destitute of the metathoracic spines of that species, and besides other differences it has a band on the second abdominal segment. This latter character not being very obvious may readily have been overlooked by Fabricius. The male differs but little from the female ; my speci¬ mens have two additional white spots on the anterior portion of the nasus. 2. O. oculatus. £ Black, tips of the abdominal seg¬ ments and two points on the second segment, yellow. VOL. i.—PART IV. 50 North American Hymenoptera. 387 to the antennae, one each side on the clypeus, and antennae beneath, brighter towards the base, dull fulvous : mandi¬ bles on the exterior margin, honey-yellow; thorax , bi-lobed spot on the anterior margin and transverse line behind the scutel, yellow : wing-scale piceous, black on the inper margin: wings blackish-violaceous: tergmn, first segment on the posterior margin with a yellow band abruptly dilat¬ ed each side; second segment at tip with much larger and confluent punctures : feet orange : thighs, except at the knee, black. Length three fifths of an inch. Differs from any of the varieties of our parietinus, Linn., I have seep, though it is nearly allied to that species. 5. Q. anormis, S. (Eumenes) Long’s second Expedi¬ tion, probably belongs to this genus, but as the head of my specimen is destroyed, I cannot be certain whether it may not be a Pterocheieus, Klug. It is like the ocu- Idtus, S. Lethus, F. Latr. L. spinipes. Black ; clypeus broader than long ; first abdominal segment somewhat white at tip: Inhab. Indiana. Body black, punctured: clypeus much wider than long: icings dark violaceous: tergurn slightly punctured ; pe¬ duncle rather slender, somewhat gibbous, with an indented spot above, near the tip, terminal margin with a piceous, dentate band; second segment with a distinct neck at base; posterior margin abruptly and smoothly impressed; and with the remaining segments immaculate : tibia, posterior pairs spinous behind. 388 Say’s Descriptions of Length seven tenths of an inch. Differs from L. cyanipennis, F. which it seems to resemble most, in being smaller, more polished, having no testaceous at base of the petiole or on the sides of the metathorax ; the wings also are less opake. Polistes, Latr. 1. P. metrica. Ferruginous; abdomen black; wings dark violaceous. Inhab. United States. Body ferruginous : antenna , fuscous ; first and second joints ferruginous beneath ; five or six last joints fulvous beneath : hypostoma with a few distant yellow, short hairs, not sericeous; at the middle of the tip, a little prominent: thorax , with a black dorsal line abbreviated behind, each side of which is an obsolete line confluent behind, exterior to which at base is a black line attenuated before and abbreviated : wings dark violaceous : feet black ; tibiae within, excepting the posterior pair; knees and tarsi yellowish : abdomen black ; first segment obso- letely piceous each side and on the posterior edge; second segment also with obscure ferruginous on each side, some¬ times obsolete. Length over four fifths of an inch. Resembles the annularis, Fabr. but the ferruginous color is more prevalent: the hypostoma is not sericeous, a little more prominent in the middle ; the basal abdomi¬ nal segment is somewhat larger and destitute of the annu- lation. I have obtained it abundantly in Indiana and Mr. Barabino sent it to me from New Orleans. 2. P. areata. Thorax black bi-lineate and margined with yellow. North American Hymenoptera. 389 Inhab. Mexico. Head yellow : nasus with black sutures and line before from the middle bifarius near the antennae : mandibles piceous at tip : antenna reddish-brown, darker above, and on the first joint yellow beneath: vertex black, of which two broad lines descend to the antennae and one descends each side, for a short distance, posterior to the eyes; a yellow oblique line from the summit to the tip of the eyes : thorax black, with two yellow vittae collar, with an abbreviated line before the wings, and a transverse anterior one, black : icings slightly ferruginous on the costal margin : scutel and segment beneath it yellow, the former black in the middle : metathorax yellow, a black vitta, and lateral basal spot: abdomen, first segment peti- oliform, as long as the second: tergum black, segments on their lateral and terminal margins yellow, the latter undulated before; second segment yellow also at base : beneath yellow, with black incisures : feet yellowish; posterior pair darker behind; venter yellow, with two or three slender obsolete dusky bands. Length less than half an inch. 3. P. valida. Yellow; middle of.the thorax and base of the segments of the tergum ferruginous. lnhah.. Mexico. 9 Body dull yellow, with ferruginous sutures: head above, and antenna at base, ferruginous : thorax on the disk ferruginous: icings yellowish ferruginous : tergum with the segments ferruginous at base : venter greenish- yellow, at base ferruginous : feet ferruginous ; coxae and part of the thigh yellow. Length over one inch. A large and rather robust species. The male is more exclusively ferrruginous with the posterior pairs of tarsi whitish ; the head in my specimen is destroyed. 390 Say’s Descriptions of 4. P. mellifica. Wings yellowish ; abdomen fasciate. Inhab. Mexico. Body blackish, sericeous, with a slight golden reflec¬ tion : clypeus not acute, but almost rounded at tip : man¬ dibles at tip piceous : thorax with a distinct, longitudinal, impressed line before, extending to the middle: wings yellowish ; dusky at tip : scutel truncate at tip, or rather very obtusely emarginate: metathorax almost vertical, with a distinct, prominent, robust angle each side: abdo¬ men, first segment small and short; second greatly the largest; all margined behind with orange yellow : venter with all the margins yellow excepting the basal one. $ Basal joint of the antennae beneath yellow : nasus very sericeous, having a whitish reflection : coxa and trochanters yellowish-white. Length over three tenths of an inch. Not being able to find my notes relative to this species, I can only state, that neair Jalapa, my attention was at¬ tracted by a group of Indians, who were eating honey from a paper nest, which was then so far dissected in their repast, that I could not ascertain its proper form. The honey had a pleasant taste, and as far as I could gather from their gestures, the nest was obtained from a tree. Some of the specimens above described I found crawling feebly away, and others I extracted from the cells in a perfect state. The trophi agree with those of the P. nigripennis, Oliv. excepting that the obliquely truncated portion of the mandibles is a little longer, and the terminal joint of the labial palpi is equal in length to the preceding joint. I had made the above description and remarks before an opportunity offered to compare the individuals with Latreille’s description of his P. lechegudna, (Ann. des North American Hymenoptera. 391 Sc. Nat. tom. 4, p. 335,) which I find it closely resem¬ bles, and to which I should refer it, but for the character attributed to that insect of having only the “ bord poste- rieur des cinq premiers anneaux de Tabdomen jaune,” whilst all the segments of the tergum of our species are margined with yellow, and the anal segment is also of that color, in all the specimens which I have seen; all the segments of the venter, moreover, are margined with the same color excepting the basal one. These differences induce me not to withhold this description, as we may reasonably infer that others exist, which can be detected Whether this species is tlie artificer of either of the nests figured by Hernandez and copied by Latreille in Humboldt’s Zoology, I cannot positively de¬ termine, but it seems highly probable. The observation of Latreille relative to the insects^ that construct those nests, (or at least one of them, for they ard very unlike each other) seems judicious, that “ j’ai lieu de soupqonner que ces insectes sont identique ou peu differens,” from his P. lecheguana. Colletes, Latr. Klug. C. incequalis. Labrura With four indentations near the base. Inhab. Indiana. 9 Body black with pale cinereous hair: Jahrum on the basal half, with four obvious indentations: thorax with the hair dusky on the disk: wings hyaline; nervures, fuscous : tergum with very short dusky hair; that of the anterior portion of the basal segment, and on each side of that segment longer and whitish or pale cinereous; posterior margins of the segments with white hair, beneath 392 which the surface is dull piceous at tip ; basal segment with a longitudinal impressed line at base : venter, seg¬ ments on the posterior margins with dull whitish hair. Length about half an inch. With more dense and obvious hair on the front. Length less than half an inch. In warm days of March and April, this species may be observed flying about near the surface of the earth. Sphecodes, Latr. S. conjertus. Black, abdomen rufous, black at tip; punctures dense. Inhah. Indiana. Body black, with close-set punctures : head rather small with whitish hairs : mandibles piceous black : thorax, middle thoracic longitudinal line very distinct, punctures equally dose-set: seutel with the impressed line, continued from the thorax: wings hyaline: abdomen polished; three basal joints rufous ; remainder black. Length three tenths of an inch. Resembles the gibbus, F. but is smaller; with a pro¬ portionally smaller head and much more dense puncturing on the thorax and seutel. Hyl^us, Latr. H. modestus. $ Black, opake : abdomen polished: hypostoma on each side with a triangular whitish spot: collar with an abbreviated, transverse, yellowish line each side : pleura with a yellowish spot under the humerus : ivings hyaline, with blackish nervures: feet with whitish knees. North American Hymenoptera. 393 Length over one fifth of an inch. the secondary bronchi in anterior and middle part of lungs, but posteriorly, the structure, instead of being cellular, seems to consist of a. very coarse, loose net-work made up of fine, white, ten¬ dinous cords. No muscular fibres detected. There was a great quantity of Fat in the male tortoise* filling up the space on each side in the upper shell just above the junction with the lower. In the female this had in a great measure been absorbed, and was very much altered in appearance. Organs of Locomotion in the male tortoise. The bone, compared by Cuvier to the os quadratum, termi¬ nates in a transverse, articulating surface in the form of a groove which receives a corresponding ridge in the lower jaw; in the female, instead of a groove, the upper surface has an arched, concave form. Zygomatic arch quite narrow. Temporal fossa very large, giving origin to a muscle of proportionate size. Articulating surface of occiput with atlas very prominent, much more so than in the green turtle, allowing great freedom of motion. Eight cervical vertebrae ; most of them have a ball and socket joint, the posterior extremity being convex; the third is convex at each extremity; the longest are situated about midway and measure four inches; towards the union with die back shell they become much shorter but in propor¬ tion thicker, and the processes very, prominent; the atlas is scarcely an inch in length and neither are the spinous processes united together nor are the sides to the body of the bone. There seems to be no good reason, however, why this bone should be excluded from the list of vertebra as Cuvier has done, though it is so little developed (Anat. Comp, i, 172) ; the dentatus, also, is quite small, and iimifimufiHmiimmu of the Galapagos Tortoise. 463 (Comp. Anat. i, 150). The muscles which move the shoulder are of immense size; one, which is probably the largest in the body and entirely fleshy* arises from almost the whole anterior half of the under shell and is inserted into the small trochanter at the head of the humerus; the others take their origin principally from the lunula and scapula, except a few from the upper shell and go to be inserted in and about the great trochanter of the humerus. The long flexor and extensor of the forearm also arise from the scapula, except for one head of the last. Below these the different parts of the upper extremity have their flexors and extensors, pronators and supinators very much like the higher classes. Of the vertebrae, besides the cervical, there are eight dorsal, four sacral 1 and twenty-one caudal. The sacrum unites firmly with the pelvis, but moves freely on the last dorsal vertebra, as do the ilia also by a broad surface on the transverse processes; all of these articulations have a synovial membrane, as have also, those of the caudal vertebra. The symphysis pubis, as it is usu¬ ally called, is quite broad and in this case formed about equally by the ossa pubis and 1 the ischia, the limits being quite distinct as the three coxal bones are not united by ossification ; anteriorly it is flat and pointed, posteriorly broad and thick ; from the anterior edge of the pubes a very prominent spine arises, two and a half inches long, about as large as the middle finger and directed outwards to receive a muscle arising from the under shell. Obtu¬ rator foramen an inch and a half in diameter and nearly circular. The femur is seven and three fourths inches long and altogether considerably smaller than the hume¬ rus ; has a single trochanter at upper extremity of mode¬ rate size, the lower having a convex Oblong form. Tibia and fibula five and a fourth inches long. There are seven 464 Storer’s Description of a new Gasterosteus. tarsal bones; one only articulates with the leg and this is very much larger than any of the rest—towards the outer extremity, however, and on one side is a line as if there had formerly been a small separate bone ; to one of the tarsal bones which is situated on the outer edge, and projects quite beyond the rest, there is attached a very small bone, which appears to be the rudiment of another toe. Each of the four toes has three bones, to which the same remarks will apply that were made in the case of the anterior extremity. The muscles of the posterior extremities generally, were smaller than those of the anterior, and in proportion to the size of the bones; one, which was attached quite round the posterior margin of both shells, was admirably calculated to expel the air from the lungs, by forcing the organs in upon them. ART. XXIII—DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS GASTEROSTEUS. By D. Humphreys Storer, M. D. Read January 17th, 1837 Of the fifteen species belonging to the genus Gastek- ostetjs of Linnaeus, described in Cuvier’s Histoire Nat- urelle des Poissons, four belong to the United States. Two of these had been previously described and figured by Mitchell, in his Fishes of New York. Of these, one, the quadroons, belongs to our Cabinet. In presenting a new species, for which I am indebted to Mr. John W. Randall, I would offer the accompanying description. Storer’s Description of a new Marginella. 465 GaSTEROSTEUS MAINENS1S. Color yellowish, with transverse black bands. Seven spines anterior to the dorsal fin. The length of this fish is about two inches. Its general color is on the sides yellowish, beneath silvery. Several black bands, varying in their yidth, commencing at the operculum and terminating at the tail, cross it transversely from the dorsal fin to the abdomen. Seven spines exist upon the back, that next the dorsal fin is larger than the others. Eyes large. Nostrils bordering upon the upper angle of the eye. Mouth moderate in size. Teeth prominent. One broad, oblong, serrated plate, almost hidden by the pectoral fin when expanded, is observed upon the side. Ventral fin serrated upon its upper edge. The fin rays are, D 7—10. P 10. V 1. A 1—8. C 8. Taken from fresh water in Kennebeck County, State of Maine. ART. XXIV—DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF MARGINELLA. By D. Humphreys Stoker, M. D. Read Feb. 1st, 1837. Marginella carnea. Plate X. Fig. 2, M. Test4 ovato quadriplicate. Shell oblong, of a beautiful flesh color; below the middle of the lowest whirl crossed transversely by a 466 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices whitish band, commencing at the exterior margin of the right lip, and losing itself upon the columella: right lip thick, white, indistinctly denticulated within, and con¬ tinued in mature shells to the apex of the spire, which it partially or entirely covers. Aperture narrowed. Four folds upon the columella. Length six lines. Width three lines. . Inhabits Key West, near the United States Barracks, from whence it was brought by Mr. D. J. Browne. It is contained in,the Cabinet of the Society—my own Cab¬ inet—and several other collections in this city. This shell is readily distinguished by its beautiful flesh color, and transverse whitish band. It more nearly ap¬ proaches the M. olivaformis, Kiener, than any other species : but the more conical spire, the three transverse bands of a deeper color than the ground of the shell, the smaller size, the wider aperture, and the locality of the latter shell, prove its distinction. ART. XXV —A MONOGRAPH OF THE HELICES INHAB¬ ITING THE UNITED STATES. By Amos Bins**, M. D. Read Nov. 19th, 1834, and at subsequent meetings. The number of described species of the very natural genus Helix, inhabiting the United States, is already considerable; and the researches of naturalists are every year adding to it. For a knowledge of the greater part of them we are indebted to the labors of the late Mr. 467 inhabiting the United States . Thomas Say, whp, if his valuable life had been longer spared to science, would have enriched Conchology with descriptions and figures of all the known species. As a work so desirable is not now expected from any other source, and as there already exists some confusion among the species, caused by the want of correct figures, with¬ out which .the most accurate descriptions are liable to be misunderstood, I shall make an attempt (though 1 am conscious in an imperfect manner) to supply the his¬ tory of this genus as it exists in the United States, and to ascertain and fix the species discovered by our own authors, before they shall have been irrecoverably appro¬ priated by others. It has often been objected to the study of shells, as commonly pursued, that it is not a branch of Natural History properly speaking, as it gives us no information of the beings by which they are constructed and inhabit¬ ed ; but consists merely of an artificial arrangement and description of their least destructible parts. This objec¬ tion has great weight, and should induce those who have leisure and opportunity to devote more time than has hitherto been given, to the observation of the habits and manners of the animals, which, it cannot be doubted, are fully as interesting, and as illustrative of the benevolence and power of the Author of nature, as those of any other class. To avoid this imputation in the present in¬ stance, a description of the animal has been given when it has been possible to procure living specimens, and such notices of their habits as the limited opportunities afforded by a city residence have enabled me to obtain, will be found under the remarks on the respective species. It is to be noticed here, that the habits of the genus are remark¬ ably similar ; so much so, that an account of one species Binney's Monograph of the Helices may serve for the whole, and those of the European spe¬ cies do not seem to differ in any considerable degree from those of our own. The extraordinary power of reproducing some of their members, and even the head itself, when mutilated, which they were discovered to possess by Spallanzani, and the promulgation of which fact was received with so much doubt and incredulity by the learned,* exists also in our species. The uncertain points of their history, such as the question whether the black points on the end of the superior tentaculae, which are generally considered to be eyes, are true organs of vision, are equally matters of doubt with us. The state of the question as to this par¬ ticular, is somewhat singular. The anatomists, including Swammerdam, Spallanzani and Bonnet, affirm that the part in question is a true eye, possessing the structure which in other animals is adapted to the sense of vision; while careful observers cannot distinguish, in the actions of the living animal, any proof of their sensibility of light or consciousness of the presence of objects, except when in actual contact with them; and therefore infer, that they are mere organs of touch. The truth may probably lie between these extremes. These animals are nocturnal, and pass the greater part of their lives under logs and stones, or burrowing in the ground where but few rays of light can reach them ; their eyes, adapted to such situa¬ tions, may be merely rudimentary, and become useless in the broad light of day. Besides, although the eyes are inhabiting the United States. situated in the tips of the tentacula, these members them¬ selves may be still organs of touch, as they undoubtedly are in other genera, when the black points are situated at their base, and the habit they have of applying them to every object which they approach, confirms the supposi¬ tion that they are constructed for this purpose. That the black points are eyes, may very fairly be inferred analogi¬ cally, from the recent observations of a naturalist on one of the*largest animals of this class. Rev. Lansdowne Guilding (Zoological Journal, vol. iv, p. 72) asserts, that in the giant species of Strombus, in the Caribbean Sea, the eyes are more perfect than those of many vertebrated animals,—that they have a “ distinct pupil, and a double iris, equalling, in beauty and correctness of outline, those of birds and reptiles In comparing our species with those of Europe, there are some general considerations deserving of attention. Our shells are more uniform and less brilliant in their coloring, and are in general destitute of spots and painted bands or zones. This peculiarity seems to be connected with, and perhaps grows out of, the habits of the respec¬ tive animals which in Europe are common in gardens and fields, on walls and hedges and other places exposed to the action of light, while in this country they are gener¬ ally found in forest!, sheltered under logs and stones, and are rarely seen abroad except during twilight and in damp weather. They do not infest our gardens and cultivated fields, nor cause damage to vegetation. Another pecu¬ liarity is, the great proportion of our species whose aper¬ ture is provided with tooth-like appendages, amounting indeed to more than half of the whole number, and to . more than three quarters of those with reflected lips. The Epiphragm, in all our species, is a thin, semi- 470 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices transparent membrane, composed principally of hardened gelatine with but little calcareous matter, stretched across the aperture of the shell, never convex but sometimes a little concave. The’ Shell is hermetically sealed by j^is covering, in which, after examination of nearly all bur species, I have not been able to discover the “ extreme^, minute orifice in the centre , communicating ivith an Um¬ bilical chord, of sufficient capacity for the passage of oxygenated air necessary for the purposes of an extremely slow, but not totally extinct respiration” spoken of by Mr. Turton.* On the contrary, I am fully convinced that no such contrivance exists, and that the only air which can serve the purposes of respiration during hybernation is the small quantity contained in the shell at the moment when the epiphragm is formed. The destruction of the epiphragm too, is effected in a more simple manner than by the secretion of an acid to dissolve it, as supposed by him; it being easily broken down by the posterior part of the foot of the animal which is first protruded. The natural food of the genus is generally supposed to be vegetable matter, and the formation of the mouth arid jaws seems to be peculiarly well adapted for cutting fioits and the succulent leaves of plants. The dental edge of the upper jaw, with its minute serratures, being applied against the substance to be eaten, tHe semilunar, sharp- edged instrument which Spallanzani calls the tongue , is brought up against it, cutting out and carrying into the mouth semi-circular portions of the substance. This operation is carried on with great rapidity, and the sub¬ stance to be eaten soon disappears. It is certain, how- 1 Manual of the Land and Fresh-water shells of the British Islands 471 inhabiting the United States. ever, that they are fond of animal substances, and some-* times prey upon earth worms, their own eggs, and even upon each other; but the slowness of their motions forbids thfgdea of their being able to sustain themselves by ha¬ bitually preying upon other animals. They, in their turn, become the prey of various birds, and it is no uncommon thing to observe in the forest clusters of broken shells t on the top of logs or other situations, which have been chosengby the birds as convenient for breaking the shell and extracting the allimal. The reader will notice that I am largely indebted to the writings of Mr. Say for the materials of my descrip¬ tions, which I prefer to acknowledge in this general man¬ ner rather than to have occasion to mention it in the numerous instances where it would otherwise be neces¬ sary. My acknowledgments are due to several living naturalists, and particularly to Dr. C. J. Ward of Chilli- cothe, Ohio, for much interesting information concerning our western species. The genus as here described, comprises Helix and Carocolla of Lamarck. It forms no part of the object of this paper to attempt a division of it in accordance with the views of %stematists, although such a division has become necessary in consequence of the great number of species which it embraces. But for convenience of reference to our own species the following divisions and subdivisions are made. 472 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Section I.—Lii REFLECTED. A. umbilicus , wholly or 'partially fevered. is wholly or partly covered by the reflection of the lip at its junc- B. umbilicus Containing species in v covered , itreofthe base of the shell lip* but in which the opdn h the whorls of the shell or imaginary axis about wl Aperture destitute of tooth-like processes. 4 Section II. —Lip simple* Comprising all those species, the margin of the aper¬ ture of whose shell is not in any degree reflected, although it is sometimes a little thickened. The aperture, propefiy speaking, is never furnished with teeth, but in some of the species there are lamellar processes fonsiderably within the aperture. \ -C. umbilicus closed. Containing species in which the whorls revolve so closely about the axis as ordinarily to leave no perceptible opening. D. umbilicus open. Containing species in which the whorls revolve in such a inhabiting the United States. 473 Section I.—Lip reflected. A. umbilicus closed, t>r nearly so. * Aperture without teeth. * , 1. HELIX MAJOR. Plate XII. H. tes^orbiculato-globosft, imperforate, luteo-come&; striis elevatis, STNONTks AND REFERENCES. Helix albolabris, var. maxima, Ferussac, Hist. Nat. des Moll. ft. xliii. fig. 4.— xliv. fig. 7. Description. Animal. Head, upper part of neck, and tentaculae ferruginous; eyes black; foot rusty, the sides more or less shaded with blue by the fluids of the animal, which are visible through its semi-transparent substance. Ten¬ taculae short in proportion to the size of the animal, and robust, their situation when retracted marked by brown spots. Foot large, and thick. Genital orifice, indicated by a slight prominence. Superficial glands, large, and distinct. On the centre of the back is a line of them of an oblong narrow shape with a furrow on each side. Those on the sides and posterior part of the foot, when examined by a microscope, exhibit numerous subcuta¬ neous, white dots, or points, arranged in clusters. Length equalling twice the breadth of the shell. * 474 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Shell. Convex, ventricose: epidermis uniform yellow¬ ish or brownish horn color: whorls six, with numerous, coarse, raised, parallel striae: the body whirl very large and turgid: suture ’deeply marked: aperture rounded, contracted by the lip, and small in proportion to the size of the shell: lip white, thickened, reflected, inner margin near the base of the shell, projecting, more or less prominent: umbilicus covered : base thickened with f-testaceous callus in old specimens. ^ ' Greatest transverse diameter one inch and a half. Geographical distribution. This species is found in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, and probably in others of the Southern States. It is common in hickory and oak woods near streams, in Florida. Remarks. This is the largest Helix hitherto discov¬ ered in the United States. It is not uncommon in cabinets, hut has been generally considered a large Variety of H. albolabris, Sat. This was probably Mr. Say’s view, as the specimens figured by Ferussac were received from him< Some acquaintance with the species in its native habitat, and comparison of a large number of specimens with H. albolabris have induced me to give it a plac| as a distinct species. It cannot be confounded with any other than that shell, and differs from it in the following particulars. It is much more globose, of a coarser and more solid texture, and the striae of increase are much more raised and prominent, so much so indeed, as to leave distinct grooves between them. The longitudinal striae, so distinct on that shell, are either wanting or very indistinct. The aperture b smaller in proportion to the size of the shell, less flattened towards the plane of the base, and more rounded. The pillar lip, and umbilicus are in many cases 475 inhabiting the United States. taceous callus. The margin of the lip is thickened, and less widely, and less abruptly reflected, and there is often a pjpminent tooth-like process on the inner and upper side of the margin near the umbilicus. The color of the epi¬ dermis is generally much darker. In those parts of the eastern and middle States where H. albolabris abounds, it is in general but about half the size of ^his species, and is altogether a more delicate and beautiful shell. That this is not the same species, in¬ creased in size by the influence of a warmer climate, would seem to be proved by the feet that H. fallax , Sat, is smaller in Florida than in situations much farther north. The color of the respective animals are widely different. Mr. Conrad informs me that he obtained this shell sev¬ eral years since, in Alabama, and, considered it a new species, but Was deterred from publishing it as such, by the generally received opinion that it was only a variety of H. albolabris. 2. HELIX ALBOLABRIS. Plate XIII. H. testa orbiculato-convexS, imperforate, luteo-comeft ; anfractibus transverse striatis; strife crebrfe, obliqnis ; labro albo, expanso, mar- gine late reflexo. Synonyms and References. Helix albolabris, Say. Nich. Eneyc. Am. Ed. Vol. IV, pi. I, fig. 1. Expedition to St. Peter’s River , Vol. II, p. 258. American Conchology. No. ii, pi 13, two upper figures. 476 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Helix albolabris, Ferussac. Hist. Nat. des Mott. PI. XLIH, fig. I tO 3. Cochlea Virginiana, Lister. Synops. method. Conch, tab. 47, Jig. 45. Description. Animal. Varying from pure white to cream color, with sometimes a greyish hue; upper part of head and neck slightly brownish ; extremities of tentaculae smoky ; eyes black. Superior tentaculae more than half an inch in length when fully extended, slender, and cylindrical; foot with a slightly expanded margin, terminating poste¬ riorly in an acute angle. Glandular tubercles very dis¬ tinct and prominent, on the back arranged longitudinally, on the tentaculae long and narrow. Dental edge of the upper jaw saffron color. Extreme length about two inches and a half. Shell. Convex; epidermis , immaculate, of a uniform yellowish brown or Tusset color; whorls, between five and six, with fine parallel striae running obliquely across them, and spirally striated with very minute, delicate lines, which are most apparent on the back of the reflected lip; suture, well marked and distinct aperture, contracted by the lip ; lip, white, flattened in the plane of the mouth, abruptly and widely reflected ; umbilicus of the mature shell, covered by the reflected lip, which is continued to the base of the shell. Greatest transverse diameter rather more than one inch. Geographical distribution. This species has been noticed on the banks of the Missouri as high as Council Blufis, and in the Northwestern Territory. It is also found in nearly all the States intervening from Canada to South 477 inhabiting the United States. Carolina, and may be supposed to inhabit the whole vast territory of the United States. It is more frequent in well-wooded, than in cleared sections of the country, and is said to be more abundant in the eastern, than in the western states. Remarks. Although inhabiting a geographical range of great extent, it is very uniform in its characters, indi¬ viduals from the most distant localities not exhibiting any appreciable differences. Destitute of brilliant tints and markings, it is still a beautiful species, and will always attract attention in a collection, by its delicately striated surface, its broad white lip, its pleasing though modest color, and its elegant contour. Its habits may be taken for those of the whole genus. In the partially cleared forests of New England, great numbers may at all times be found sheltered in the moist mould under decaying trunks of fallen trees, and rotten stumps, and sometimes under stones. In these situations they pass the greater part of their lives, and feed upon the decaying vegetable matter which exists in profusion around them. When the atmosphere is charged with moisture, and during light showers, and in the morning and evening twilight they leave their retreats, and may be seen slowly making their way over the surface of the fallen leaves, or climbing the trunks of trees ; but a change of weather soon drives them again to shelter. In the early days of spring they are sometimes observed collected in considerable numbers on the sunny sides of rocks,* where they pass hours in indolent enjoyment of the warmth and animating influence of the sunshine. * The congregatic noticed by a writer ii 478 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Here, with the head just protruding beyond the lip of the shell, and one tentacula extended as if to catch the slight¬ est signs of an enemy, the snail remains perfectly unmov¬ ed, unless some insect alights upon its shell, when it shows its uneasiness by raising it suddenly in the air, and moving it around in quick and rapid gyrations until the intruder is dislodged. Whether these meetings serve any useful purpose in the economy of the animal, or are caused by the pleasurable sensations, and renewed strength, derived from the warmth of the situation after their winter’s sleep, I cannot say; I am inclined to think, however, that they precede the business of procreation. It is certain that they last but a short time, and that after early spring, the snails are only to be found in their usual retreats. In the course of the month of June, earlier, or later, as the season is more or less warm, they begin to lay their eggs. These are deposited to the number of from thirty to eighty, in the moist and light mould, sheltered under leaves at the sides of logs and stones, without any order, and slightly agglutinated together. After the number is completed they are abandoned by the animal. The eggs are white, opaque, elastic, nearly globular, three sixteenths of an inch in their greatest diameter, and covered with minute points. They consist of an outer, semi-calcareous covering or shell of some consistence, an an inner, transparent, thin, shining membrane, which im¬ mediately incloses a clear, viscid, glairy fluid, which is analogous to the albumen or white of birds’ eggs. The vitellus or yolk seems to be wanting. The embryo shell is observable in-the albuminous fluid in a few days after the egg is laid, and when the new ani¬ mal makes its way out of the egg, which happens at the end of twenty or thirty days, for it is difficult to determine 479 inhabiting the United States. the time with precision, it consists of one whorl and a half, the length of the column or axis being about one eighth of an inch, and the breadth somewhat less. No umbilicus is then discernible. I have not been able to determine how much time is required to complete its growth, but I am induced to believe, that the reflected lip, the evidence of maturity, is added in the second or third year. In the month of October, or at the epoch of the first frost, the snail ceases to feed, fixes itself to the under surface of the substance by which it is sheltered, with the aperture of the shell upwards, and disposes itself for its annual sleep, or hybernation. Withdrawing within the shell, it forms a membranous covering, or epiphragm, over the aperture, and as the weather becomes colder retires further, forming membrane after membrane with only a small interval between them, until sometimes there are as many as six of these divisions. The circulation becomes slower, the pulsations of the heart, which in the season of activity vary from forty to sixty in a minute according to the temperature of the air, decrease in fre¬ quency and strength, until finally they are imperceptible. The other functions of the body cease, and a state of torpidity succeeds, which is only interrupted by the re¬ viving heat of the next spring’s sun. During the months of April and May, the animal breaks down the membra¬ nous partition, and comes forth to participate in the warmth and freshness of the season. At first it is weak and inactive, but recovering in a short time its appetite, it commences feeding, and resumes its former activity. This species, as before remarked, offers but few varie¬ ties when arrived at maturity; but the young shell might be mistaken for a distinct species, it being umbilieaised, 480 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices and destitute' of the reflected lip. It is not until the shell has attained its full size that the reflected lip is added, and the umbilicus is covered. It resembles H. thyroidus, H. zaleta and H. major —but is distinguished from the former by its greater size, covered umbilicus, and want of the tooth-like process on the pillar lip, and from H. zaleta by the absence of the tooth, and its less ventricose form. The differences between it and H. major are pointed out in the remarks on that specjes. 3. HELIX MUTILINEATA. PI. XIV. H. testa orbiculato-convexA, imperforat&, luteo-eomea, lineis ftw ci* Synonvms and References. Helix multilineata, Say. Joum. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. Vol. II, p. 150. Helix multilineata, Ferussac. Hist. Nat. des Moll. PI. XLVI, fig. 3. Description. Animal. Granulated; granules large whitish ; inter¬ stices blackish ; foot beneath black. Shell. Rounded, convex, rather thin : epidermis, yellowish-brown or russet-color, with numerous reddish- brown, finely undulated, revolving lines and bands: whorls, between five and six, with delicate, parallel, oblique striae: suture, distinctly marked : aperture lunated, slightly con¬ tracted by the tip : lip, white, not much expanded, re¬ flected. inhabiting the United States. 481 Greatest transverse diameter three fourths of an inch. Geographical Distribution. “ An exceedingly nu¬ merous species in the moist forests on the margin of the Mississippi, near the Ohio,” according to Mr. Say. It is also common in the States bordering upon the Ohio river, but has npt been noticed east of the Alleghany mountains. Remarks. This is a beautiful species, distinguished by its shining epidermis, ite crowded d elicate raised striae, and the numerous, neddish-brownf^fevolving linds which contrast well with the russet or yellowish ground on which they are traced^ The lines vary in number from three or four to thirty or more, and are sometimes united into bands. On the sides and base of the 'shell they are usually finely undulated. The general contour of the shell resembles H. thyroidus , Say. I have never been able to obtain the living animal, and have therefore been obliged to quote Mr. Say’s description entire. Ac¬ cording to Dr. Ward “ they inhabit wet and marshy prairies under sods. Two winters since I found in such a situation (in December} at least one hundred of this species agglutinated into one mass. They were about six inches below the surface and appeared to have exca¬ vated the cavity which they occupied.” This habit of attaching themselves together in great numbers during their hybernation I have not witnessed in any other of our. species, but I believe it is common in some of the European species. m 482 Binney's Monograph of the Helices 4. HELIX CLAUSA. Plate XV. H. testi eub-globooA, sub-imperforaUl, luteo-come4 ; Synonyms and References. Helix clausa, Say. Joum. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil Vol. II,jri54. American Conchohgy, No. iv, pi. 37, Jig. 1 • Description. Animal. Blackish. Shell. Rounded, somewhat globular: epidermis , yel¬ lowish-brown or russet color: suture, distinct: whorls, between five and six, with delicate, raised, oblique striae: aperture, somewhat rounded, upright, its plane making an acute angle with the axis of the shell, somewhat con¬ tracted by the lip : lip, white, reflected : base rounded : umbilicus, nearly covered by the reflected lip. Greatest transverse diameter half an inch. Geographical distribution. “ Occurs,” according to Mr. Say, “ in several parts of the Union, and particu¬ larly in the Western States,” and “ but rarely in Penn¬ sylvania.” The specimens which I have seen were brought from Alabama and Arkansas. Remarks. This is a doubtful species. The speci¬ mens which 1 have noticed in Cabinets under this name, have been generally small varieties of H. Pennsylvania, Green, or of H*. thyroidus, Say, in its immature state without the tooth. The former can be detected by its 484 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Shell. Convex, elevated : epidermis, brownish bom- color : whorls, nearly six, rounded, with crowded, ele-> vated, oblique striae : suture distinctly marked : aperture, sub-triangular, contracted by the lip : lip white, reflect¬ ed, with sometimes a slight thickening on the inner side near the base: umbilicus, closed; umbilical region in¬ dented. Extreme transverse diameter three fourths of an inch. Geographical distribution. Inhabits the western parts of Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and is probably found in all the States bordering on the Ohio river. Remarks. A very well marked species, distinguished chiefly by its triangular mouth and elevated spire- The volutfons are usually about six; the shell is thin, and the lip but narrowly reflected. Some individuals resemble H. elevata. Say, as is mentioned in the remarks on that shell. The epidermis is rather more rufous than is usual with our helices. The color of all the thinner shells of this genus appears darker when the animal is retracted, and this species has often, in this situation, a purplish tinge, which is well represented in the plate. The animals of this, and of many other species, is often overrun with greht numbers of Acari, resembling Acarus limdcum of Europe. There appears to be at least two species of them. They are very minute, of a flesh color, and move with great rapidity, frequently enter¬ ing and coming out of the respiratory foramen. Their presence does not seem to cause any uneasiness or even to be felt by the snail. This shell varies in being more or less elevated: in some individuals the spire is much flattened. It differs greatly m size also, some perfect shells not attaining more than one half of the size of others. Some persons have 485 inhabiting the United States. thought that Helix clausq, Sat, was a small variety of this shell; but the rounded aperture, represented in the figure of that shell given by Mr. Say, precludes that sup¬ position. The individual figured in ©ur plate is a large 6. HELIX StTBGLOBOSA. Plate XVII. H. testA subglobos&, imperforate, Intent; anfraifebus glabris, ultimo Helix subglobosa, Nobis. Description. Animal. Head and neck blackish, with a slight tinge of brown ; tentacular' smoky; eyes Black ; base of foot inky, posterior extremity dirty flesh-color. Foot rather slender, terminating acutely. Respiratory foramen sur¬ rounded with a blackish circle. Genital orifice indicated hy a blackish spot a little behind the large tentacula of the right side. Length about twice the breadth of the shell. Shell. Sub-globose : epidermis, olivaceous-yellow, shining,.smooth: whirls, from four to five, convex: spire, somewhat elevated : suture, at the extremity of the last whirl curved towards the aperture: lip slightly reflected, white, obsolete on the base, with the margin thickened internally: aperture rounded, slightly contracted at the base by the thickening and indentation of the lip: umbil¬ icus, covered, indented : base convex. 486 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices Greatest transverse diameter three quarters of an inch. Geographical distribution. Inhabits the eastern part of Massachusetts, near the sea. Is common on the lower parts of Cape Cod, and on Cape Ann, and is very abundant on Salt Island, a rocky, uninhabited island near Gloucester. f Remarks. This shell bears a strong resemblance to H. hortensis, Linn, of Europe, and may by some be considered a mere variety of that species. The restrict¬ ed locality in Ifhich it has hitherto been found would seem to favor the supposition of its having been imported, and its habits serve to confirm that idea. Unlike the other American helices which I have observed in their native haunts, it does not appear to burrow under stones, or decaying wood and leaves, but is found on the surface of the ground, or climbing the stems and adhering to the leaves of the shrubs which cover the soil. 1 have thought too, that In captivity it is less disturbed by the want of moisture than any bother of our species. But notwith¬ standing these considerations, I am disposed to claim for this shell a place as a distinct species.* The reasons which lead me to this conclusion are, its general aspect, which enables one to distinguish it at once from the inhabiting the United States. 487 foreign shell; the uniformity of the color, ours being yellow, with an olivaceous tint and destitute of bands, while that is remarkable for its great diversity of coloring, and brilliant zones; the greater prominence of the spire; the difference of the color of the animal, which Drapar- naud describes as “ commonly pale or a little greyish, or slightly reddish” a description that could not be applidi to the species in question; and lastly, ♦the epiphragm, which is a thin, transparent, membranous pellicle, as in our other species, in place of an opaque, papyraceous one, as stated by that author. In the young shell the umbilicus, which is hardly large enough to admit the point of a pip, is open, and the lip is simple. In a single specimen I have noticed some in¬ distinct bands and lines. Having kept a large number of this Species in confine¬ ment, I have frequently had an opportunity of noticing the manner in which the epiphragm is formed, which does not appear to me to have been heretofore correctly described. The collar of the animal having been brought to a level with the aperture of the shell, a quantity of gelatinous matter is thrown out, which covers it. The pulmonary orifice is then opened, and a portion of the air within, suddenly ejected, with such force as to separate the viscid matter from the collar and to project it, like a bubble of air. from the aperture. The animal then quickly withdraws further into the shell, and the presence of exter¬ nal air presses back the vesicle to a level with the aper¬ ture, when it congeals and forms the epiphragm. In some of the European species in which the gelatinous secretion contains more carbonate of lime than ours, the congelation seems to take place at the moment when the air is expel¬ led, and the epiphragm in these, is strongly convex. 488 Bvnney’s Monograph of the Helices 7. HELIX THYROIDUS. Plate XVIII. Helix thyroidus, Say. Nicholson’s Encyc. Am. Ed. Vol . IV, Art. Conchology. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. Vol. I, p. 123. Vol. II, p. 161. American Conchology. No. ii, pi. 13. , Helix thyroidus, Ferussac. Hist. Nat. des Moll. PI- xlix, A. Jig. 4. Cochlea umbilicata, Lister. Synops. Conch, t. 91, fig- 91. Cochlea terrestris Virginiana. Schroter. Einleit. ii, p- 192, No. 60. Mesodon leucodon. Rafinesque. DescriptioK. Animal. Of a dirty whitish yellow, with a greyish hue in some individuals, tentaculae darker, eyes black, base of foot dirty-white ; foot rather narrow, terminated posteriorly in an acute angle. Length equal to twice the breadth of the shell. Shell. Rounded, convex : epidermis, immaculate, of a uniform yellowish-brown or russet-color: whirls, about five, with fine, parallel striae running obliquely across them; suture, distinctly impressed ; aperture rounded. inhabiting the United States. 489 , contracted by the lip, the plane of the aperture making a considerable angle with the plane of the base of the shell: pillar lip, with a prominent, white, tooth-like process placed obliquely to the axis of the shell: tip, white, widely reflected, and sometimes grooved; exterior of the reflected lip yellowish: umbilicus exhibiting only, one volution, partially covered by the reflected lip whet# it unites with the base of the shell. Extreme transverse diameter three fourths of an inch. Geographical distribution. Inhabits all the States from New York to Missouri, and from North Carolina to Arkansas. It is very common in the country bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and though sometimes found, is rare in the New England States. Remarks. This species bears a strong resemblance to H. albolabris, with which it is sometimes confounded. It has, however, striking specific characters, which are never wanting, and which will enable one always to dis¬ tinguish it. These are, the partially closed umbilicus, and the tooth on the pillar lip. The yellow color on the posterior part of the reflected lip is also a very constant character; this-is derived from the mantle of the animal, which, in a state of rest, frequently overlaps the margin of the aperture. It is a smaller shell than Helix albo¬ labris, and more convex, sometimes being even globose, and the plane of the aperture makes a much larger angle with the plane of the base of the shell. It varies considerably in appearance. Some individuals never reach half the standard size of the species. It is more or leas globose, has the umbilicus sometimes cover¬ ed, and at other times is destitute of the teeth. The animal, though usually yellowish, I have noticed to be in a few cases blackish. It is probable that the color of the 490 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices animals of this genus is much influenced by the nature of their food. 8. HELIX ELEVATA. Synonyms and References. Helix elevata, Say. Joum. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. Vol. II, p. 154. (An. 1821.) American Conchology. No. iv, pi. 37, fig- 2. Helix Knoxvillina , Ferussac. Hist. Nat. des Moll. PL xlix, fig. 4, 5, 6. Mesodon helicinum, Rafinesque. Description. Animal. Ashy brown on the upper surface, lighter on the posterior extremity and sides ; collar greyish-white ; glands prominent and distinct. Shell. Very convex, elevated, almost conical: epi¬ dermis, yellowish hom-color: whorls, nearly seven, rounded, with fine oblique transverse striae : suture, dis¬ tinct: aperture , contracted by the lip, somewhat trian¬ gular : lip, white, reflected, lower inner margin a little thickened : pillar-lip, with a large, white, robust, oblique¬ ly-curved tooth : umbilicus covered. Greatest transverse breadth seven eighths of an inch. Geographical, distribution. Inhabits the western inhabiting the United States. 491 parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia and the States bor¬ dering upon the Ohio river. It is very abundant in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Remarks. The first description of this shell was by Mr. Say, in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in January 1821. Early in 1822 it was indicated by Ferussac in his Tableau Syste* matique No. 94, as Helix Knoxvillina, as was afterwards shown, when the explanation of the supplementary plates of his work was published, in which the figure of this species is referred to as Helix Knoxvillina of his Tab¬ leau , and as Helix elevdta of Say. Mr. Say’s descrip¬ tion having been published a year before the name of Ferussac, which was unaccompanied with specific charac¬ ters to enable the reader to identify it, should give the name first imposed, the precedence, and I therefore retain it. M. D’Orbigny, in his Synopsis of the land and fresh water shells of South America, published in Guerin’s Magazin de Zodlogie for 1835, has applied the same name to one of the species described by him. He was doubtless ignorant that it had been pre-occupied, and will of course replace it by another, when the fact is knowm This is a rather thick and heavy shell. It resembles H. Pennsylvania in general aspect, but is larger, has one more whorl, and is a coarser shell. The tooth on the pillar lip, which is wanting in the other, will always ena¬ ble one to distinguish the mature shells ; but the young resemble each other so nearly that it is difficult to discover a difference. The variations of the species are small—the greater or less elevation of the spire, is the common cause of the differences. In captivity, it burrows much under the surface of the 492 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices ground, and keeps itself hidden, the greater part of the 9. HELIX ZALETA. Plate XX. Synonyms and References. Helix zaleta, Say. Manuscript ? Helix albolabris, Var. unidentata, Ferussac. Hist. Nat. des Moll. PI. xlvi, A. fig, 6. Description. Animal. Greyish-brown or blackish above, paler on the posterior extremity and base ; superior tentaculae black, long and slender; glapds very prominent, length} when fully extended, including the tentaculae, equal to thrice the breadth of the shell. Shell. Convex, somewhat ventricose : epidermis , of a uniform yellowish horn or russet-color: whorls , between five and six, with fine, parallel striae crossing them ob¬ liquely : body whorl large and ventricose : suture , well marked, and distinct: aperture , rounded, contracted by the Up, the plane pf the aperture making a considerable angle with the plane of the base : lip, white, reflected: pillar lip , with a prominent, white, oblique tooth: umbi¬ licus covered. Greatest transverse diameter about one inch. Geographical distribution. Common in the States 494 Binney’s Monograph of the Helices There is certainly a strong resemblance between many of our species which, with H. albolabrie as their type, forrii a well marked division. But as their differences are as constant as their resemblance, it cannot be proper to unite them into one. 10. HELIX DENTIFERA. Plate XXI. ^H. tcst4 orbicolato-depressA, imperforate, luteo-come &; ep\rk sub- Stnontms and References. Helix dentifera. Nobis. Description. Animal. Greyish on the sides and posterior extremity, brownish on the upper parts, darker on the head and neck, foot long and narrow,-superior tentacular long and slendelV eyes black. Shell. Flattened, convex on .the upper surface, con¬ vex below: epidermis , yellowish hom-color, immaculate: spire depressed : whorls, five, with delicate, parallel, ob¬ lique striae : suture, distinct, not deeply impressed : aper¬ ture, contracted by the lip, flattened towards the plane of the base; lip white, broadly and abruptly reflected: pil¬ lar-lip with a prominent, white, tooth-like process nearly parallel with the lower margin of the aperture: base convex. Greatest transverse diameter about three quarters of an inch. inhabiting the United States. 495 Geographical distribution. Noticed by me, hith¬ erto, only in the State of Vermont, on the eastern slope of the Green Mountains. Remarks. This species, now for the first time de¬ scribe*!, is not common in the localities which it inhabits. Its distinguishing marks are, its flattened form, and the tooth on the pillar lip. While observing it with the animal retracted and the collar just visible at the aperture, I have heard a sharp snapping sound emitted, which seems to harve some con¬ nexion with the opening and shutting of the respiratory foramen ; but in what manner it is produced 1 have not been able to discover. The same is made by H. albola- bris, H. thyroidus , ant! H. diodonta , and is probably common to the genus. OFFICERS BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY for 1837-8. ' t ItesiUent, GEORGE B. EMERSON. Vict ^resttents, F. W. P. GREENWOOD, AMOS BINNEY. Corresponding Secretary, EPES S. DIXMTELL. ttecortfng Sectetarj, MARTIN GAY. ' : "I * ^Treasurer, EZRA WESTON, Jun. librarian, CHARLES K. DILLAWAY Curators, T. WILLIAM HARRIS, D. HUMPHREYS STORER, AUGUSTUS A. GOULD, CHARLES T. JACKSON, J. B. S. JACKSON, WINSLOW LEWIS, Jon. J. E. TESCHMACHER, NATHANIEL B. SHURTLEFF. Cabinet Steeper. » THOMAS M. BREWER CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. '* Jm,Jwe ' :r^rSer.^s„t c vTi: ^ssassrtrs M-tom Mn ndj. L ibri de animantibus subtenraneis Liber. rS:%°T£*£.£ m &A S3S3 liliWMi&irim C“S 506 Catalogue of the Library. T § I i t i i t i it it * M t i i 511 i i § DONORS TO THE LIBRARY. American Institute of Instruction, 203*. Albany Institute, 1. Charles Amory, 4,18, 96, 32, 74, 87,116,119,121,138,284. Amos Binney, 23,195, 244- Henry I. Bowditch, 250, 250*. Browne, 212. Henry Codman, 68, 68*. Nahum Capen, 78. Samuel Cooper, 135. Charles v Cramer, 193,194,199. Elijah P. Clark. 207. Joseph P. Couthouy, 291. John J. Dixwell, 54. Isaac W. Davis, 103. Charles K. Dillaway, 117. Entomological Society of London, George B. Emerson, 99,110,233. Samuel E. Foster, 88, 111, 112, 42, 51, 61, 73, 85, 89, 90, 96, 97,107,108,115,127 to 131, 136,140,141,142, 205, 271. Augustus A. Gould, 13,53*, 126, Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, 230, 259. Horace Gray, 27. Francis C. Gray, 67. F. W. P. Greenwood, 75. J. S. Copley Greene, 122. James B. Gregerson, 269. Isaac Hays, 48. Charles J. Hendee, 106. Samuel G. Howe, 139. T. William Harris, 235. C. M. mid P. B. Charles T^jXon, 43,144,153, 174, 175, 176,183, 184, 185, John C.'Jay, 49. John Lowell, Jr., 5, 38. Henry Lienow, 9, 31, 198, 902, S208213, 222, 224, 228, 252, 265’270, 273, 285,289,292. Isaac Lea, 56,57, 58,178. J. A- Lapham, 109. Benjamin D. Leonard, 249. Joseph W. McKean, 86. . Massachusetts Legislature, 172, ‘tSZ2SSSisS£B£- jj. Jjlil sasc: i» i n« NDEX. eeB8BS *BBBB•*I*SBB !*§'= s ‘ % Sg§glif P? R fc§S!Bi8$8$S;3§8i8g!§9§SsSSHslsssil Ill s PI I PI IP Fusus /b'lianus Fusils Aruanus. PI.VII. PL 8. PL.T: Testudp Elepkantopus , : Warlan, KAlbolabris. PI 13. H.CIausa. m PI. 15. “ #4 K.’Pe^nsyi-yamc a. me. H/SabgM'osa H.Thyroidus. PI. 13. * . R Zalfftjb' PI- % Scuihmd A: A'orthwest Section, through Portland^ inmThAXB ITS VICimTY.