1894-] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 307 



COLLECTING IN THE "LONE STAR" STATE. 



By FRANK SHARP. 



Flowery meadows, blooming clover-fields, clear brooks, shady 

 woods and refreshing breezes make the collecting pleasant, but 

 here we have no meadows, no clover-fields, no shady woods, 

 very few brooks, and in the right time a tropical heat. We call 

 the climate semi-tropical, because it is sometimes as hot as under 

 the equator, and, when the northers blow, as cold as under the 

 north pole. Maybe it is not so very cold, but we are used to the 

 heat, and thus more tender when Mr. Frost appears. 



Collecting continues here practically the whole year, for the 

 cold weather lasts at one spell but three or four days, then the 

 next day butterflies are floating around in the air, and we have 

 hardly ever more than five or six such cold spells, although a 

 late frost in Spring sometimes kills corn and potatoes, peaches 

 and plums, and the first brood of insects. In February some 

 low bushes called "Tangle-weed" are blossoming and attract a 

 great number of Lycaenidae and Hesperidae, then comes another 

 bush with reddish blossoms before the leaves appear,* and lots of 

 Papilios, Colias and Pyrameis are flying and feeding on the blos- 

 soms. Early in March, peaches, wild and cultivated, and plums 

 are in full bloom, and there are as many insects on them as there 

 are blossoms, Rhopalocera and Heterocera predominating, but 

 also species of other orders. Then comes a Mimosa bush with 

 small rosy ball-like flowers, the food of many Coleoptera, espe- 

 cially of Chrysomelidae, then the Mesquite tree, full of Coleop- 

 tera and Hymenoptera; after a while the " wild myrtle," a bush 

 with white flowers, full of Hymenoptera and Thccla. I captured 

 once on a few bushes 150 Theda halesus in two hours. Then 

 comes the " bee-bush" also with white flowers, full of Lycaenidae 

 and Cerambycidae, and at last the "gum-tree" with myriads of 

 sweet-scented insects. Yes, with Hymenoptera and Callichroma; 

 the smell of these insects show you the way to the gum-tree. 

 Besides these plants there are oak and elm trees, which, when in 

 blossom, as well as others, make excellent collecting. Then 

 comes vacation; the drought begins; you may look for water 

 beetles before the creek dries up or collect with the sweeping net 

 for a while; then the play is out till the fall rain falls. Then a 



* Called here "Judas beans." 



