Feb., 'lo] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 73 



this is apparently of rare occurrence. Two years ago I came 

 across this beetle for the first and only time in this part of the 

 State. It was visiting the flowers of Rudbeckia hirta L. (black- 

 eyed Susan) on a prairie in Racine Co., about 20 miles south 

 of Milwaukee (visit recorded in "Wisconsin Flowers and 

 Their Pollination. Compositae." By S. Graenicher. Bull. 

 Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., April, 1909, pp. 27 and 64) . In the beetle 

 collection at the Public Museum of Milwaukee 14 species of 

 Nemo gnat ha from different parts of the United States are rep- 

 resented, among them N. vittigera with 5 specimens, 4 of 

 which are from Missouri and i from Wisconsin. This is the 

 only representative of the genus that has heretofore figured 

 in this collection. 



As a member of the Milwaukee Public Museum collecting 

 expedition along the St. Croix River in the northwestern part 

 of Wisconsin (6 weeks in July and August of the present 

 year) I was agreeably surprised to find this beetle of rather 

 common occurrence near the mouth of the Yellow River in 

 Burnett Co., Wis. I came across 4 specimens of another spe- 

 cies, N. nemorensis Hentz, at the same locality where 5 days 

 were spent, from July 29 to August 3. N. vittigera was also 

 met with farther south in the pine barrens at Randall, Burnett 

 Co. Altogether 22 specimens of this species were secured, and 

 these show a great diversity in length, ranging from 7 to 1 1 

 mm. As to the length of the tongue (suctorial tube) an aver- 

 age of 4 mm. was found. In one specimen the tongue was a 

 trifle shorter, and in six a trifle longer, but of main importance 

 is the fact that increase or decrease in tongue length does not 

 run along with an increase or decrease in body length. The 

 length of the tongue seems to be a rather constant factor withi-n 

 the species and to develop independently of the body as a 

 whole. 



These beetles were observed as regular visitors at the flowers 

 of Rudbeckia hirta, the tubal florets of which have a length of 

 about 3.5 mm. As stated above, the tongue of the insect is 

 about 4 mm. long, and therefore perfectly able to reach the 

 nectar at the bottom of the florets. Some of the beetles were 

 seen on the flowers of two other species of Compositae, of the 



