30 Transactions of the Kansas 



cliila." The cow-boy ia great amazement inquired again: "Ambly Chila — who's 

 sheV Who "she" is, it will be the object of this paper in some measure to 

 explain. 



In 1823 the famous entomologist, Thomas Say, discovered a single dead specimen 

 of this insect " near the base of the Rocky Mountains." Twenty-nine years later 

 a second specimen, also dead, was found upon the " Llanos Estacados," or Staked 

 Plains, by one of the United States surveying expeditions. The remarkable struc- 

 ture and great rarity of this beetle made it ^'' facile princeps'''' among American 

 insects, and its possession was eagerly sought by our foremost entomologists. But 

 many difficulties lay in the pathway of those who would gain the coveted prize. 

 The regions in which the two specimens had been captured were practically 

 inaccessible to the entomologist. No railroad had then entered the vast country 

 lying west of the Missouri river, and hostile bands of Indians were at all times in 

 readiness to massacre the reckless adventurers who should dare to traverse their 

 hunting grounds without a powerful military escort. A national expedition for 

 the survey of our immense unoccupied domains might obtain the needed protection 

 by Government authority. But what professional "bug-hunter" could hope for 

 membership in such an expedition, much less aspire to the requisite military 

 escort for an expedition of his own for the sole purpose of hunting an insect, how- 

 ever rare and however valuable in the estimation of entomologists. But, notwith- 

 standing the inaccessibility of the plains to collectors of insects, various attempts 

 were made to overcome this difficulty. A distinguished American entomologist, 

 not many years after the discovery of the second specimen of Amblychila, in 1852, 

 printed a circular containing a description and life-size figure of the beetle, which 

 he distributed among the army surgeons at the various military posts in the 

 Western territories. Several additional specimens were in this way obtained, and 

 several others were brought, in by some of the more recent Government expedi- 

 tions. But Amblychila cylindriformis continued to be the rarest and the costliest 

 of American insects. It could hardly be purchased for museums at any price, and 

 not more than two years ago, no less than fifteen or twentj'' dollars were eagerly 

 paid for a single specimen. Indeed, a price list of North American coleoptera 

 issued at Cambridge onlj' eight months ago, quotes the subject of this paper at 

 twelve dollars per specimen. 



Two causes, however, have recently conspired to bring out the fact that this 

 insect is by no means the same rarity in nature as in entomological collections. 

 In the first place, the withdrawal of the Indian tribes from Kansas soil to distant 

 reservations, has made it possible for the collector of insects to visit the plains 

 without incurring the imminent danger of losing his scalp ; and in the second 

 place, the discovery of the crepuscular and nocturnal habits of Amblychila has led 

 to the capture of great numbers of specimens during the past season. This dis- 

 covery, which had been predicted by Dr. LeConte, of Philadelphia, was actually 

 made in the summer of 1876 by Messrs. H. A. Brous and S. W. Williston, of the 

 Yale College geological expedition to Western Kansas, in charge of Prof. B. F. 

 Mudge. The members of this party obtained about 100 specimens. During the 

 present season several hundred specimens have been collected by Messrs. Williston 

 and Cooper, of the Yale expedition, and by the Kansas University expedition in 

 charge of the writer. It is more than probable that the present year has been 

 unusually favorable to the occurrence of this insect, and that the next season 

 may prove, like that of 1876, less productive of specimens. It is a well known 

 fact that a species may occur in great abundance for one year and then become 

 comparatively rare or altogether unknown for several years in succession. This 



