Vol. XXVli] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 467 



Notes and News. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM ALL QUARTERS 

 OF THE GLOBE. 



A Swarm of the Monarch Butterfly in Iowa (Lep.). 



On September 21, 1916, according to my informant, Mrs: S. K. Slem- 

 mons, a large swarm of Monarch butterflies, estimated to contain 

 several thousand individuals, was seen by herself and family on their 

 farm six miles southeast of Iowa City. The afternoon of that day 

 was warm and rather misty, with a strong wind blowing from the north- 

 east. The swarm came with the wind, from the northeast, about three 

 o'clock, and alighted in a maple grove near the house, resting in great 

 numbers on the twigs during the night and remaining until the next 

 day. The butterflies were seen fluttering about in the maples during 

 the morning and earlier hours of the afternoon, when they left, appar- 

 ently not upon a single impulse but more or less in a straggling fash- 

 ion. Mrs. Slemmons tells me that a friend of hers, living at West 

 Branch, about ten miles to the northeast, reported seeing a large swarm 

 near that village either on September 21 or the day before. Swarms 

 of the Monarch used to be seen fairly often in the vicinity of Iowa 

 City. As a boy I used to notice great assemblages of them in a little 

 patch of woods near the public school which I attended. They would 

 gather in thousands in the oak trees, arranging themselves in rows on 

 the twigs, and their coming was the signal for a sort of hunt among the 

 children who enjoyed the excitement of killing any butterflies venturing 

 within reach. In later years I saw a smaller swarm in a little maple 

 grove southeast of the town, but recently have not met with the phe- 

 nomenon at all. H. F. WICK HAM, Iowa City, Iowa. 



Misapplied Effort (Odonata). 



I was greatly interested and somewhat surprised to see a female 

 Anu.\- j tin ins performing this morning on one of the crowded thorough- 

 fares of Chicago. A sprinkling cart having recently passed, there was 

 a diminutive puddle just outside the curbstone, the water not being to 

 exceed an inch in depth, and therein was Mrs. Anax dipping the tip of 

 her abdomen persistently and methodically as if the shallow receptacle 

 were sufficient for the habitation and sustenance of an expected progeny. 

 The brisk wind that was blowing and the crowd of pedestrians crossing 

 the street interfered somewhat seriously with her efforts, but she never- 

 theless returned repeatedly to her task. I wonder if the unusually Ion- 

 temperature induced her to attend to her maternal duties, that up to 

 this time she had carelessly if not wilfully, neglected. O. ! . WKSTCOTT. 

 Oak Park, Illinois, October 18, 1916. 



| Where in this. puddle were the plants in which .-\IKI.\- oviposits? Did 

 this female really discharge eggs? P. P. C.] 



