i8o ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [November, 



point as far as the species Anax junius is concerned. In Franklin Park, 

 in this city (Columbus, O .), a small lake was dug last Winter in a place 

 which was before entirely dry and well drained, and during the last of 

 April and the first of May this lake was filled with water from the city 

 water-works pipes, which I am sure contain do dragon fly nymphs; and 

 on the 3oth day of August last, the shores of this artificial lake were 

 literally lined with the exuvia of Anax junius nymphs; so they could not 

 have been older than four months at the utmost. I saw the first Anax 

 junius flying in the last week of April, and I think I am safe in saying 

 that none appeared much earlier, as I was on a special lookout for them. 



PAUL FISCHER, Columbus, O. 



CANNIBALISTIC HABITS OF THE CRICKET. In the "Canadian Ento- 

 mologist," vol. xxiii, p. 137, Mr. Wm. Brodie cites several cases of canni- 

 balism that came under his notice. My attention was first called to the 

 cannibalistic habits of the cricket some four years ago while bass fishing 

 in the upper Delaware River. Wishing to make an early start, I had taken 

 the precaution to secure my bait the evening previous; part of the bait 

 consisted of about fifty large crickets, which I placed in a good-sized tin- 

 box; the next morning I was surprised to find only thirty-five live crickets 

 in the box, with the legs, heads and other hard parts of the missing fifteen. 

 The day selected for fishing turned out to be a rainy one, so our trip was 

 postponed; the box of crickets was laid aside, and the next morning on 

 examining the contents of the box I was not surprised to find about ten 

 more missing. I now determined to use the remaining crickets for an 

 experiment; I kept the box in my room, and on several occasions on ap- 

 proaching the box very carefully and peeping in, I would be rewarded for 

 my trouble by sights of cannibalism. In a week or ten days I removed 

 the contents of the box, which consisted of some eight or ten large, fat 

 crickets, and an innumerable mass of legs, heads and other hard parts of 

 crickets. In this case it was no doubt the survival of the fittest (or fattest), 

 the stronger overcoming the weaker. PHILIP LAURENT. 



INSECTS BLOCK THE TRACK. Syracuse, N. Y., May 3ist. South of 

 Brighton Corners, between this place and Jamesville, on the D., L. and 

 W. R. R. are extensive limestone quarries, which have been in operation 

 for many years, and have penetrated deeply into the rock. Through the 

 cut thus made, and into the quarries a branch track has been laid from the 

 Lackawanna road for the accommodation of the hewn stone. Night work 

 being necessary, a large part of the time, an arc light has been placed 

 high over the track at the darkest part of the cut. 



Several cars were loaded with stone for shipment on Friday and left 

 on the switch, pending the observation of Memorial Day. To-night, in 

 preparation for drawing the cars out, the electric light was cut in and an 

 engine with the necessary crew left from the city for the quarries. Upon 

 reaching the cut the track was found to be covered for sixty feet on either 

 side with strange insects of immense proportions. The swarm was so 

 great that the engine became stallen, the rails having become so slippery 



