﻿June, 1895] DiTiMARS. On COLLECTING IN CONNECTICUT. 65 



A rather peculiar incident occurred while out after a woodchuck one 

 day. Not seeing the animal after an hour's hunt, I took a shot at a pass- 

 ing swallow, and as it fell in front of me on level ground it disgorged 

 what seemed to be a large berry, but on examining more closely, found 

 it to be a ball of insects most of which were alive. It was composed of 

 nearly a dozen winged ants, some gnats, two specimens of a small 

 Agrion, five specimens of Chysomelidce of three species, two Casnonia 

 and some small Hemiptera. As some of the insects were good they 

 were soon in my collecting bottle. Thinking that this might be an ex- 

 ception, I shot two more swallows, and both had the ball of insects in 

 the mouth. The time was 6:30 p. m. This is the first time that I 

 ever hunted insects with a gun. 



When back in the city about two weeks, I noticed that one of the 

 snakes caught during my vacation seemed to have an obstruction in the 

 throat, and, on examining him, found the throat infested with what 

 looked like dipterous larvae of large size. Wishing to keep the snake 

 alive, I removed them all with a pair of forceps and preserved them. 

 The snake was Heterodon platyrhinos, popularly termed the "hog- 

 nose," or "blowing adder," was nearly a yard long and at the 

 thickest part of the body one and a quarter inches in diameter. This 

 is the first time that I have heard of a dipterous parasite on Ophidia. 



During my stay in Plymouth County I made several trips to 

 adjacent towns, Reynold's Bridge offering good collecting, especially 

 at an elevation. At Plymouth, high up among the hills, was a collector 

 from Brooklyn; he informed me that he was doing good work in the 

 Lepidoptera, particularly the Heterocera, and had some good Coleoptera 

 on hand. 



As a great deal of my time in this region was devoted to collecting 

 venomous Ophidia, I had not the time to gather any large quantity of 

 insects, but what work I accomplished in the entomological line 

 showed the nature of this rich collecting ground. 



To a collector having ample time to stay in any one place, the Naug- 

 atuck Valley offers fine collecting for the summer. Here along the 

 Naugatuck River he may find both hill and valley collecting, and also 

 stretches of pine growth. 



The region is easily accessible from New York City by the N. Y., 

 N. H. &: H. R. R. to Bridgeport, thence by the Naugatuck Division. 



