i68 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [September, 



In the shallower portions of the lake are great beds of water- 

 lilies, on whose leaves Donacia; disport themselves in the sun, 

 safe from the hands of that collector who is provided only with 

 means of working from the shore. Here we found our boat a 

 most valuable adjunct, though even with this means of approach 

 the activity of the beetles made their capture a matter of difficulty. 

 On account of their activity it was necessary for one of us to row 

 while the other perched in the bow with a net ready to strike. 

 The individuals taken were D. proximo.. D. emarginata was 

 common on sedges along the shore. 



The Tenebrionidae were, in the main, such as frequent or feed 

 upon dead wood for example, Ccelocnemis dilaticollis and Iph- 

 thimus serratus, which occur on decaying pine in the same man- 

 ner as Nyctobates infests deciduous trees in the East. However, 

 Eleodes nigrina and E. humeralis were not uncommon in sandy 

 spots, and several specimens of a Coniotis were also met with. 

 Scaphidema pictum is coprophagous in habit, a large colony 

 having been found in and under dung near the shore of the lake. 

 They burrowed in the loose sand, much after the fashion of 

 Phaleria. 



Our departure was hastened by the breaking out of extensive 

 and destructive forest fires, the smoke of which obscured the sun 

 and rendered objects, situated more than a hundred yards or so, 

 invisible. The pall of smoke reached all the way from Portland 

 to Helena though not equally dense at all points and even 

 when we left fires were eating out the edges of some of our best 

 collecting grounds and threatening others which may be no longer 

 in existence. 



-o- 



COLEOPTEROLOGICAL NOTES FROM MY BROTHER'S DIARY. 



By EMIL C. EHRMANN, Pittsburg, Pa. 



These notes are from my brother G. A. Ehrmann's note-book, 

 and were made principally at Charleroi, Washington County, Pa. 

 George is interested in Lepidoptera, and a younger brother, 

 Albert, studies Ornithology, and the folio wing notes are the 

 result of their captures: 



April 20. Coleoptera plentiful, Cyllene picta in abundance on 

 newly-cut hickory logs depositing eggs. 



