36 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
found these colonies were always dead, and were either sticking in the high 
banks bordering the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, or they had 
fallen down upon the beach. But in either case they were daily twice sub- 
merged by the tide. During the months of June and July the beetles would 
slowly emerge at ebb-tide from the roots, if sufficiently dry; not by many 
individual holes of exit, but only by some few. Some of the roots in- 
fested for many years by these insects would look as if riddled by small 
shot. The beetles crawled slowly about these roots as long as the wood was 
dry, and never even attempted to fly. Some specimens would frequently 
re-enter the holes, but chiefly males showed such a habit. The outer sur- 
face of these roots, which are always more or less denuded of bark, becomes, 
in time, very hard and tough perhaps one reason why comparatively so 
few holes were made Splitting open one of these roots I found the whole 
interior a perfect net-work of large and irregular burrows crossing each 
other in every conceivable direction, and all partly filled with sand dashed 
in by the waves. Only few roots were thus inhabited by these beetles, 
notwithstanding that great numbers of suitable ones were scattered every- 
where. I soon found that only those were inhabited that received at regu- 
lar intervals a thorough wetting by the salt water; the rest evidently were 
too dry to suit the beetles. I noticed, also, that the same roots had been 
populated for manv seasons, and in particular one large root which had 
been carried out some distance in deeper water, and was thus always rest- 
ing upon moist sand. I obtained such beetles for four years in succes- 
sion, or as long as I had occasion to visit the spot. 
Mesites rufipennis Lee. seems to be nothing but the immature red form 
of subcylindricus, and both species issued from the same hole. Specimens 
varying from vivid red to dark brown and black could be found together; 
the species varies also very greatly in size. 
Notwithstanding close collecting during the summers of four years, I 
never found a specimen of Platypus flavicornis in situ. One morning, 
however, and just before sunrise, immense numbers of these beetles were 
flying about; they could be caught in numbers by sweeping the air with 
the hand or hat. As soon as the sun rose all disappeared as by magic, 
and none could be found ; nor on the three succeeding mornings, when 
the conditions of wind and temperature were the same. The only trees 
growing in the vicinity are clumps of the Pinus tceda, the great majority 
of them dead and decaying from a severe storm some winters ago. These 
pines are perfectly riddled with holes and inhabited by numerous cole- 
opterous larvae, which can be plainly heard when passing such trees. 
Whenever a dead tree falls against a still healthy one the latter is doomed 
to die in a very short time in consequence of insects migrating to the point 
of junction. 
Mr. Schwarz added that some other Calandridae, including the 
genera Dryotribus and Macrancylus, exhibit habits similar to 
this Mesites, and that these maritime species constitute a pecu- 
