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44
FIELD NOTES
Vol.11: nos.1-3
MEETING ADELPHA ERE DOW II (NYMPH ALID^E) IN OREGON
One of the symptoms of the collector's "disease", at least as regards entomologists, is to poke one's nose into odd corners of the world where one has hitherto not scrambled. Sometimes the enthusiast is searching for some specific insect, but just as often the underlying motive is not as direct, but mainly an indefinable or "come what may" urge. One of these "let's just see" jaunts on July 23, 1956, took us up into the Applegate Valley along the north slope of the Siskiyou Range, in Josephine County, Oregon. Primarily on the lookout for Speyeria, at a spot where O'Brien Creek junctions with the Applegate, at about 3000 feet elevation, we ran into a colony of Adelpha bredoivii californica Butler. I was sure I recognized the insect, but finding it up here, I had to haul out my "Holland" and "Comstock" to verify my hunch.
Our initial meeting with californica was in the afternoon, where we found them basking in the sunlight. Off hand, I do not recollect a single specimen taken on any flower, their main occupation being sipping moisture from the moist spots next to the stream. My wife and I returned to the same location the next morniing; it seems we had to wait into the latter part of the forenoon, probably until the sun again warmed the area. During the two days we captured 60 specimens, most of them in fine condition That we were not dealing with a transitory group is perhaps shown by the fact that one specimen seen the first day, with a big corner of a fore wing missing, was there again on the second day. Over two-thirds of our catch were males. Although we saw one or two "going shopping" along the roadside within a very short distance of the stream site, the "nest" was concentrated in an area no larger than a city block, if that large.
When I returned home, I found no reference to californica having been taken in Oregon, and my specimens appeared a shade smaller and darker than my limited series from California. I was aware that this can be a normal clinal trend, however. I contacted Dr. J. A. Comstock and Lloyd M. Martin about my catch. Martin pointed out that the slightly darker shade might well be due to comparing fresh specimens with others taken some time ago. He mentioned having records that Jean Gunder had taken a series in Oregon years back, and that Kenneth Fender had been reported as having run into a series in the same state.
A. californica being a rather attractive insect, and our finding it where we had hardly expected to encounter it, has made our O'Brien Creek visit just one more of the many pleasant recollections in the life of a couple of "bug hunters."
Arthur II. Moeck, 301 East Armour Ave., Milwaukee 7, Wise, U. S. A.
THE SPECIES OF ETHMIA (ETHMIID/F) KNOWN FROM WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The recent capture of three specimens of a species of Ethmia has prompted an examination of the few Pennsylvania specimens of this genus in the Carnegie Museum collection. Since the results of this search include the rectification of an old misdetermination as well as two new records for the state, it was thought worthwhile to publish them.
1. Ethmia macelhosiella Busck. Not previously known from the state. A single specimen is in the museum collection, ex coll. Engel, from Finleyville, Washington County, dated "Oct. 15-21." It agrees very well with the illustrations of Barnes & Busck (Contr. Nat. Hist. hep. N. Amer. 4: 252, pi. 27, figs. 1, 2; 1920).
2. Ethmia longimaculella Cham. There are two specimens in the collection, both from Pittsburgh, dated 25.iii.1911 and 20.vi.1908 (I am inclined to doubt the March date). Both of these are ex coll. Engel and bear the misdetermination uzelleriella" (see Engel, Ann. Carnegie Mus. 5: 127; 1908). They compare very well with the figure