INSECTS OF MOUNT RAINIER — MELANDER. 419 



probing into cracks and scams in these trees. Shining black car- 

 penter ants likewise appropriate the dead trees for their modifications. 

 Several species of robber flies, one with beautifully pictured wings 

 and yellow-plumed abdomen (pi. 8, fig. 8), use the tree trunks as a 

 vantage post from which to pounce down on an abundant but luck- 

 less prey. 



One of the big buzzing flies, a cutworm parasite generally known 

 as Echinomyia algens (pi. 8, fig. 4), is a regular visitor to Alta Vista, 

 coming up in numbers to disport itself in the warm sunshine after 

 its tour among the flowers below. This is a shining black bristly 

 species, one of the most active of all, but since its wings are small 

 as compared with its bulky body, it must vibrate them the harder 

 to get into flight. Hence it is rare to find a specimen on the ridge 

 not having its wings frayed and torn. Like the flowers that hurry 

 through their short season, the flies are energized by the actinic sun 

 rays, and thus they are capable of more rapid movements than are 

 the insects at tidewater level or those of the somber cool forests. It 

 is the pursuit of elusive insects like these that gives to mountain 

 collecting the exercise of a tennis game coupled with the zest of cap- 

 ture that comes with angling and hunting. It is fortunate for the 

 entomologist that national park regulations are not construed to 

 forbid insect collecting, since they do prohibit the general public 

 from picking flowers and killing game. 



When the sun shines on the alpine parks it is hot. Even on the 

 snow fields, where it is freezing under foot, mountain sunburn is a 

 serious and not to be belittled affliction. The absence of the bottom 

 mile of air removes a potent filter of light and heat and the sun- 

 shine is correspondingly intensified. The photographer must make 

 allowance for the greater chemical energy of the sunshine, just as 

 the flowers and insects have adjusted themselves to their alpine sur- 

 roundings. But the sun may not shine every day. The mountain 

 visitor must not come with the expectation that every summer day 

 will be filled with the glory of sight-seeing, for sometimes the parks 

 are enveloped in clouds and sometimes it rains. The vastness of the 

 icy dome, said to be more extensive than the whole glacier system 

 of the Alps, coupled with the rarified atmosphere, causes cloud 

 formation and on the slightest provocation the precipitation of rain. 

 In its way it is interesting to sojourn among the clouds, thus to learn 

 that they are not fleecy, but depressingly damp and cold. It is start- 

 ling to watch the fantastic shapes of mist arise from the clear air, that 

 in a few moments may obliterate all view of the mountain and drive 

 into hiding every form of insect life. But when day follows day 

 of rainy weather the entomologist is not so keen for the " Camp of 

 the Clouds." Fortunately he is at liberty to move to one of the 



