OF WASHINGTON. 109 



1902. By March their holes are open in every direction in large, 

 numbers. 



The mature beetle is very shy and runs fast and hides effec 

 tively. They have good wings, but I could never induce one to 

 fly in daytime. At night they will fly, but always crawl up on a 

 stick or something to start from. If captured and placed in a 

 bottle, a pair will copulate, so strong is this instinct. They are 

 sometimes called by the natives the u white-eyed bug." 



The above observations were made near Alligator Head, Cal- 

 houn County, Texas, in the years 1901 and 1902. 



2. Cicindela rectilatera. 



The beetles have but two objects in life eating and propaga 

 tion. They are omnivorous ; they will eat algag and the fine 

 green moss that grows on moist ground around springs, pulling 

 it loose and shaking it free of sand before chewing it up. They 

 will also eat any small insect that they can capture such as small 

 ants, very young fiddler crabs, marine fleas, etc. They will also 

 eat any dead flesh that is fresh such as fish, rabbits, etc. I once 

 skinned a large moccasin for them and in less than half a day I 

 had a beautifully-cleaned skeleton ; they will not eat carrion. 



In midsummer they seek shade in the heat of the day ; all the 

 balance of the time, day and night, they spend moving about. 

 They prefer the margins of the bays, rivers, lakes, and ponds, 

 but I have seen them, apparently content, many miles from 

 water. They run by spurts and fly promptly when danger 

 threatens. 



In the breeding season, which is from June to frost, the sexual 

 desire seems to be entirely on the side of the male, and it is sel 

 dom that the female submits to the act without a struggle to pre 

 vent it. The male seizes her with his strong pincers between 

 the thorax and the abdomen, and, will she, nil she, forces the 

 matter. The act consists of from three to five insertions of the 

 penis, according to the vigor of the male, each insertion lasting 

 about one minute with a rest spell of about three minutes be 

 tween insertions. So strong is this instinct in the male that he 

 will perform it in a bottle held in the hands, and I have several 

 times had them to die in the cyanide bottle without losing hold 

 of the female. After the female has surrendered to the male, she 

 goes about seeking food, carrying the male on her back. When 

 the male releases the female, he makes a good run, for she turns 

 on him and tries to bite him. 



When ready to deposit her eggs, the female flies some distance 

 from her haunts. I have found colonies of larvae three and four 

 hundred yards from where the nearest adults lived. She lays 

 one egg in a place, but places them from one to six inches apart. 

 As soon as the young larva hatches, it opens a hole to the sur- 



