1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 2OI 



station. Yet the only occasion suggestive of any carnivorous 

 tendency noticed by them was a large larva of Asaphes decoloratus 

 Say with a smaller one in its jaws,* which they suggest as being 

 in all probability, accidental. 



The special experiments, with the object of ascertaining any 

 carnivorous habits, were all with negative results. They placed 

 larvse of Asaphes decoloratus and earth-worms together in a 

 breeding-jar, but no such tendencies were seen. Experiments 

 with Melanotus communis Gyl. likewise tailed, as did those made 

 with Drasterius elegans Fab.t The result of my own observa- 

 tions on the subject are as follows : Early in the season I found 

 a number of the larvae of several species among the decaying 

 matter and refuse in the base of a hollow oak which I took to- 

 gether with an amount of the substance in which they were found. 

 Upon my return home, not having any idea of their being de- 

 voured by one another, they were all placed in one breeding- 

 cage. My surprise was very great, therefore, upon examining 

 them the next morning to find one of the Melanotus communis 

 gorging itself upon one of Ludius sp. The body had been 

 severed at the third segment and the canabalistic individual was 

 found with head and thoracic segments submerged within the 

 body of its victim. These I immediately placed in alcohol as 

 proof positive for future reference. I then placed in a separate 

 cage another M. communis larva with one of a species unknown 

 to me. On looking at these the following day all that remained 

 of the undetermined species was the head, thoracic appendages, 

 with a few fragments of the other segments. Having found, also, 

 the larvae of a species of Uloma infirmis Mels., I believe, with 

 these in the same location I wished to see what would be the 

 result of placing them together in the breeding-cage. As I ex- 

 pected, it was the same as before, and since then the carnivorous 

 species have been in separate jars along with the material in 

 which they were found. Several species of this family, in the 

 larval form, are said to be carnivorous. 



Dr. Riley reared Hemirhipis fascicnlaris Fab. from the larva- 

 preying on them of Cyllene pictus Drury; Elater luduosus Lee. 

 from larvae that fed on those of Dendroides canadensis Latr. and 

 Cucujus clavipes Fab. ; Melanotus communis fed on the larvae of 



* Bulletin 33, Cornell Experiment Station, page 259. 



t Bulletin 33, Cornell Experiment Station, pages 259, 263, 268. 



