64 KANSAS ACADEMY OF /SCIENCE. 



AUygus irroratus, Say. 

 Scapkoideus immistus, Say. 



ThamiKilctti.r aurora, I ' 111. 



sp. indet. 

 Agallia siecifolia, Uhl. 

 Bythoscopus sp., indet. 



Manhattan, Kas., November 21, 1884. 



Gypona octolineata, Say. 



columba, Fitch, var. 



sp., indet. 

 Jassus seminudus, Say. 

 Erythroneura, two species. 

 Ccelidia subbifasciata, Say. 



ON SOME SALT MARSH COLEOPTERA. 



BY WARREN KNAUS, SALINA, KANSAS. 



The salt marshes of Kansas are characterized by an insect fauna that is, usually, 

 peculiarly their own. They are of especial interest to the entomologist, for here he 

 finds forms closely allied to those taken on the ocean shore — the Atlantic, or Gulf of 

 Mexico. The coleopterist who has made marine forms a special study, can with reason- 

 able accuracy tell what species will be found on the saline deposits of the Mississippi 

 valley. As an illustration of this, Mr. Henry Ulke, of Washington, D. O, writes me 

 that he predicted to a correspondent that Cicindela togata, then taken on the coast near 

 Corpus Christi, Texas, would be found on the salt flats in the vicinity of Lincoln, Neb. ; 

 a few weeks afterward his prediction was verified. 



Each season for the last four years, I have collected Cicindelidce, on a salt marsh near 

 Fredonia, Wilson county. In the summer of 1880 I visited this locality for the purpose 

 of procuring specimens of the saline incrustations, to be analyzed. While walking across 

 the bare surface of a lateral offshoot of the marsh, a tiger beetle ran from before me; a 

 stroke of my hat disabled it and made its capture easy. This specimen, when identi- 

 fied, proved to be Cicindela circumpicta Laf., a comparatively rare species, and never before, 

 I believe, taken so far east. 



In 1881 I visited this locality the last week in June, and found the same beetle in 

 abundance. A large number of specimens were taken, and they did not disappear until 

 the last week in July. 



The season of 1882 they were observed about the same time — i. e., from the last week 

 in June until the last week in July. 



The season of 1883 was about two weeks later than the preceding season, and I took, 

 in company with my friend Mr. S. C. Mason, sixty specimens on the afternoon of Au- 

 gust 6th. 



The present season this handsome beetle was very abundant ; one hundred and 

 thirty-five specimens being taken July 12th in two hours' work with the use of a single 

 net. Ten days later many of them had disappeared, only one hundred specimens being 

 taken in an afternoon's work. 



Two varieties occur in almost equal abundance with the typical form — one with blue 

 elytra, and one with bronze elytra and thorax. This beetle is found more abundant 

 near the water's edge, where the bare saline ground is moist and warm, and in sheltered 

 offshoots, where the sun shines the hottest. 



In the same locality Cicindela punctulata Fabr. is also found mingled with Oicindela 

 circumpicta, but their occurrence is rare in comparison with the latter species. 



Oicindela cuprascens Lee.," is given by Professor E. A. Popenoe in his "Preliminary 

 List of Kansas Coleoptera," as occuring at Lawrence, Topeka, Hutchinson, and in Rooks 

 county, on "sand bars and banks of st reams." In August, 1882, Mr. S. C. Mason found this 

 species in great abundance on a sand bar at the mouth of a small stream which emptied 



