118 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



I have not yet ascertained what others have done, but the following notes 

 of my own observations may interest some readers of the Entomologist : 



At the opening of the season the Cockchafer (L. fusca) was almost 

 the only vibitant, but in such numbers that specimens might be collected 

 by the quart for a few evenings. Gradually other species appeared. 

 Belostoma americamivi and Calosoma calidum were conspicuous, the 

 former for its size, and the latter for its beauty. The former has obtained 

 the popular name of the " electric light bug." It is supposed to have ap- 

 peared with the lamps, and is oftenest brought to me for identification. 

 The grave-digger beetles, Necrophorus, Silpha and Hister, were not infre- 

 quent. Why they come to the light is not easy to say. Possibly the car- 

 rion which they usually seek is slightly phosphorescent, and attracts them 

 by its glow, and they are deceived by the brilliancy of the electric arc. 

 Several small Carabids were abundant about the same time, but have not 

 yet been identified. 



As June advanced moths became more abundant than beetles, not be- 

 cause the latter fell off, but because the former largely increased. On 

 warm evenings a perfect swarm played round the lamps, hour after hour. 

 Every now and then one and another dashed into the globe, struck the 

 glowing carbons, dimmed the light and was killed or consumed with a 

 hissing noise. By morning a handful, sometimes a half pint, of dead in- 

 sects was accumulated at the bottom of the lamp-glass, mostly scorched 

 and burnt. In this way immense numbers are destroyed, but no apparent 

 diminution ensued. One morning in June I obtained about a hundred 

 specimens of the very abundant little grass moth (Crambiis mutabilis 

 Clem.) from every lamp examined. This means a destruction of above 

 ten thousand individuals nightly of this one species. As the process has 

 been going on for at least a fortnight, the 102 lamps in this city have killed 

 about 1,500,000 individuals. Yet still they come, and in undiminished 

 numbers. 



Since then Dart-moths (Cut-worms) of various species have begun to 

 appear. About the middle of June I collected above 50 specimens from 

 three lamps. It was apparently A. siibgothica Haworth, though Riley 

 (Entomolog. Rep. of Mo., 1868, p. 82) says this species does not appear 

 till September. Positive identification of these moths is often diificult. 

 This implies the destruction of about 1,500 nightly. Other species of 

 Dart-moths not yet identified were equally numerous. One would thmk 

 such wholesale slaughter must diminish their numbers, and nerhaps the 



