218 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



variety of both Acridiids and Locustids was secured here than at Barbados, 

 the large Schistocerca pallens being among the former. The Phasmid Bostra 

 maxivelli is very common in some portions of the wooded districts. 



There are few fresh-water streams and ponds on Antigua. However, one 

 of these ponds, situated about three- fourths of a mile from the Dockyards at 

 Enghsh Harbour, was made the object of a rather intensive study. Among the 

 more interesting forms of insect life found here is the mole cricket {Gryllotalpa 

 sp.) which we had not discovered at Barbados. The mud shores of the little 

 pond in some places were literally undermined by the tunnels of these peculiar 

 insects. Other groups represented in the pond were Gerrids,Notonectids,Hydro- 

 batids, Belostomids, Hydrophilids and Dytiscids, dragon-fly and damsel- fly 

 larvae and adults, various species of dipterous larvae — in fact, the place was 

 found to be a veritable storehouse of interesting entomological material. Of 

 course, such ponds olTer excellent breeding places for mosquitoes, and we found 

 great numbers of both larvae and pupae. Needless to say, mosquito nets are a 

 part of the furnishings of every well-ordered house on the island. 



The low, grassy lands towards the qentre of the island furnish a great 

 variety of insects, particularly in Hemiptera and Orthoptera, and collecting 

 with a sweep net was very productive of results in such situations. 



At the south end of the island, where most of our collecting was done, 

 many localities are heavily wooded. Small cultivated and semi -cultivated 

 places on both high and low lands offer excellent collecting grounds. In many 

 places highly xerophytic conditions prevail, particularly on the hills in the 

 in the vicinity of English Harfeour. Here the soil is very thin, although it is 

 able to support many harsh and spiny plants. On the mud flats near the harbour 

 at the foot of the hills are to be found great numbers of the elusive tiger-beetle 

 Cicindela trifasciata var. tortuosa. The sarne white form (C. siituralis var. 

 hehrcEo) that we found at Barbados was also disco\'ered on the sand beaches at 

 Half Moon Bay. 



In walking through the wooded districts about Antigua the newcomer 

 is at first struck by the great number of what appear to be climbing vines on 

 the trees. Upon closer examination it is discovered that these "vines" are 

 really the covered galleries through which the termites travel from place to 

 place. These tunnels are everywhere, winding about over the trunks and 

 branches of the trees, and usually terminate in a nest of some size either on the 

 ground or in the trees themselves. The termites are usually sightless, and, being 

 averse to the light, construct tunnels when it becomes necessary to cross an 

 open surface. Both the nests and tunnels are made oi pellets of chewed wood 

 fastened together with sticky saliva secreted by the insects, and turn grayish 

 after short exposure to the elements. When thoroughly dry the nests are very 

 tough and resistant, being of about the consistency of hard rubber. The gal- 

 leries are much more fragile 



A most interesting and, to the writer, unusual place in which to find insects 

 is in the great epiphytes or air plants locally known as wild pineapples which 

 grow, sometimes in great numbers, on the manchineel and other trees in the 

 wooded districts. Upon carefully removing one of these "pines" from the tree 

 to which it is ordinarily loosely attached and turning it upside down, the co 

 lector is often well repaid for his efforts. Spiders, scorpions, beetles and cock- 



