THE CANADIA.N ENTOMOLOGIST. 169 



A MONTH ON VANCOUVER ISLAND. 



BY H. F. WICKHAM, IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



But little seems to have been written on the fauna of this interesting 

 island, and therefore I hope that a few notes bearing on the subject may 

 not be without interest to the readers of the Canadian Entomologist. 

 It was my good fortune to spend nearly a month in the vicinity of Victoria 

 last summer, and I append some account of observations made at the 

 time. 



The Cicindelidse are represented only by two species of Omus and by 

 Cicindela oregojia, the latter flying on the beach. Omus atidouinii also 

 frequents the beach, hiding under logs high enough up to be out of the 

 the way of the water, while O. dejea?iii dwells in the woods, and may be 

 found under damp logs. 



Two species of Cychrus—angtisticollis and marginatus — are found in 

 the heavy forest, and may be dug out of very rotten logs, or found in hol- 

 low roots of trees. They both seem to be rather common in places, as 

 I dug over fifty atigusticol/is and a number of marginatus out of a single 

 log. The former species emits a very strong and unpleasant odor when 

 disturbed by handling. 



Carabus oregouensis seems to prefer rather more open spots, and I 

 took it mostly in the lanes around the outskirts of the town. These 

 specimens are larger than those from Oregon and Washington, and have 

 lighter colored elytra — resembling a specimen shown to me as coming 

 from Sitka. Many other Carabidae are common, especially Blethisa, 

 Notiophilus, Leistus, Nebria and Bembidium. 



Seashore collecting yields a rich return here, and nearly every log 

 thrown up by the waves out of reach of the tides has its colony of beetles 

 underneath. They are of various species and represent nearly all the 

 large families, though, perhaps, Staphylinidse are the most abundant. 

 The large Hadrotes crassus may be seen under any log or bunch of kelp, 

 which is damp enough to suit. Then we see Cafius represented by three 

 species and numerous specimens of a little Aleochara, these living mostly 

 in seaweed, along with Cercyon fimbriatum, a widely distributed species 

 which I found in plenty at San Diego. The little Trichopterygid with 

 the formidable name — Motschulskium simiatocolle — may be seen on the 

 under surface of logs on the beach, and the omnipresent Derviestes looks 

 out for whatever the sea may give up of its dead. 



Occasionally a good Elaterid is found. I got my only specimen of 



