March, I9I2.] Davis: Distribution of Tiger Beetles. 19 



Cicindcla scxgnttaia seems to be absent from the real pine barrens 

 of New Jersey, but an interesting colony of the species was found 

 on May i, 1911, at Jamesburg. Here in an area of about a mile in 

 diameter, covered mainly with pitch pines and with the eminently 

 pine barren plant, Pyxidanthcra barhulata, growing along the wood 

 roads, scxguttata was found in great abundance, and sixteen speci- 

 mens collected. Many more were seen. Cicindcla rugifrons is also 

 to be found in this area, which is indicated as pine barrens on the 

 map accompanying the last list of the insects of New Jersey. 



Cicindcla iinipttncfata was found running on a road at Ridgeway, 

 N. J., on August 13, 191 1, a cloudy day. The insect has been found 

 to the north and south, at Lakewood and Lakehurst. 



The natural prairie on Long Island which once occupied the land 

 tracts known as the Hempstead Plain and the East Meadow has not 

 all been plowed. There are still some areas that have fortunately 

 remained undisturbed which support an interesting flora and many 

 insects. The ground in places is often covered with lichens until 

 it is gray in color ; there is much Salix fristis, Aster linariifolius, 

 Tcphrosia virginiana and Baptisia tinctoria. There are pleasant 

 park-like places with large black jack oaks and post oaks. The 

 grasshopper Spharagcmon coUarc scuddcri is to be found there in 

 considerable numbers. From these facts it might be judged that the 

 soil is poor and barren, but it responds to cultivation and good crops 

 are raised in the parts that have been plowed. For some time past 

 a steam plow, that turns eight furrows at a time, has been at work, 

 and hundreds of acres of the prairie have been disturbed for the first 

 time. It was while walking about this interesting place on September 

 8, 1911, a dark cloudy day, that I found on a narrow road about a 

 mile northwest of Central Park railroad station, a female Tctracha 

 virginica. The beetle was active and running quite fast. It made no 

 attempt to fly as I picked it up. I was astonished to find this tiger 

 beetle unknown till the present time from New Jersey, as far north as 

 Long Island, N. Y. It is not common in the District of Columbia; 

 Pennsylvania is given as a locality, and Mr. Charles Dury has found 

 it flying about electric lights in Cincinnati, Ohio. The surroundings 

 would lead one to suppose that it was not artificially introduced, and 

 it is certain that what remains of the one time wide stretch of 

 natural prairie, still harbors a number of insects and plants of interest. 



