THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 171 



After many, many hours searching rufinasus has failed to re- 

 appear, and but two clavatus several years apart. 



That slough has, alas! now disappeared, and in its stead are 

 long streets of ugly houses. 



Another haunt of mine has lost most of its charm from being 

 drained. That is Boundary Creek, not far from Winnipeg Beach. 

 Less than two hours' run from Winnipeg, it was a delightful hunting 

 ground to spend a Saturday at. Early in June it was at its best. 

 In swampy ground near it were clumps of iris, and in shady spots 

 clouds of marsh marigolds. On rising ground to the east were 

 flowering shrubs, oak and poplar, and everywhere some flower or 

 leaf doing its best to be beautiful. 



And how insect life abounded! The air was fairly full of 

 dragon-flies — some of them, such as Leucorrhinia borealis and 

 Somatochlora macrotona, quite rare ones. Butterflies and a few 

 day-flying moths were hovering over the meadow, while on the 

 surface of the water "striders" were darting here and there and 

 "whirligigs" were madly deserving their name. 



It was in the clear, slow moving water of this Creek that I 

 took Polydotes tortulosus Robts., and down near the old single 

 plank bridge — now gone — one specimen of a new Gyrinid, to 

 which Mr. Roberts assigned a manuscript name. He had one other 

 specimen, and the two matched exactly. It differs from all other 

 species of Gyrinus that I have seen by its shape, which is much 

 longer in proportion to its width than usual; in fact, it looks as 

 if it had been "pinched." Since then I have taken hundreds, and 

 casually examined thousands of this genus in the hope of finding 

 more' of my friend, but with no success, nor has search for tortulosus 

 been better rewarded. 



When hunting for water beetles, a very strong net ring must 

 be used and a short bag of stout cotton or similar material. A 

 good-sized square of cotton on which to dump your catch of mud, 

 leaves and weeds is a necessity, as you can then pick out prizes 

 at your leisure and allow anything not required to escape. Some 

 species are very lively and jump around in vigorous effort to escape; 

 others feign death and do not move for minutes. Parnids are 

 often found in rapid-running streams, and the following method 

 suggested to me by Mr. Roberts is a good way of hunting them. 



