March, 19 14.] MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 73 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



Another Queen of the " White Ant " Found. — While on a collect- 

 ing excursion last Fourth of July with Mr. Charles E. Sleight at 

 Lake Hopatcong, N. J., I found a small colony of white ants beneath 

 a small log where they had hade some tunnels along the ground 

 beneath the log. Among the individuals was captured a fully devel- 

 oped queen, which was preserved and presented to the local collection 

 of insects, at the American Museum of Natural History. — H. G. 

 Barber. 



Malachius^neus Linn. — The occurrence of this common European 

 species in New England was first noted by Leconte in 1856. About 

 1872 it was taken in numbers by Fred. Blanchard, H. G. Hubbard and 

 friends near Boston. Ten years ago Mr. Chagnon mentioned it as a 

 prized capture near Montreal. The Chris. H. Roberts collection, 

 made in the seventies, had a long series with a " N. H." label. Four 

 years ago it was taken sparingly at Claremont, N. H., by G. P. Engel- 

 hardt and myself. They are still rare in amateur collections. 



Last June I made a special effort to get them. June 8 I took 

 ninety-eight, all males, freshly emerged, and all in the flower of 

 Ranunculus acris or crawling up the stem from the ground, in which 

 they pupate. All were taken beside the railroad track which leads 

 from Boston and all in swampy locality. Buttercup patches fifty feet 

 away on dry soil yielded none. The introduced Sph^ridiuvi scara- 

 bceoides was common in the same situation. 



A month later Mr. Englehardt took them commonly at Stowe, 

 Vt., a high and dry locality at least ten miles back from the railroad. 

 It may be mentioned that they fly well. Miss Patch reports she has 

 taken them sparingly every year she has been in Maine. I sent speci- 

 mens to Dr. Felt, who reports records : Jefferson, N. H., July 2, 1901 ; 

 Albany, July 6, 1906; Ogdensburg, July 10, 1913; Lake Clear, June 

 I, 1906. Mr. E. A. Schwartz calls them common throughout New 

 England. 



The evidence is strongly that the species is not circumpolar, but 

 has come by ship to Boston and Quebec and has been carried by 

 train. Being predaceous as larvae and pollen eaters as adults, they 

 spread slowly. — R. P. Dow. 



