252 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



NOTES ON COLLECTING CICINDELIDiE. 



By D. E. Lantz, Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 

 Read before the Academy, at Manhattan, November 28, 1903. 



TOURING the past two or three years, in going about the state, I 

 ^-^ have spent some leisure hours in collecting insects for the de- 

 partment of zoology in the State Agricultural College. The great 

 beauty of most of the representatives of the family of Cicindelidas at- 

 tracted my special attention to them, and I began to form a private 

 collection of them. In addition to the varieties and species found in 

 Kansas, I have collected several in Colorado, and have done some ex- 

 changing. My experience in the field has given me a fair knowledge 

 of the habits and special characteristics of the species that have come 

 under my notice, and I have found some new localities for some of 

 them. With the expectation that some of the members of tlie 

 Academy may be interested, I have ventured to present a few notes 

 of my observations of this interesting family. 



Amblychila, cylindriformis Say. Taken near Wallace, July 8, 9, 

 10, and 24, and August 4 and 5, 1902. A few specimens were found 

 on the open prairie at a considerable distance from the clay banks on 

 which they are usually found. A single specimen was found August 

 24, 1902, on the embankment of an irrigation ditch near Bent's Fort, 

 Bent county, Colorado. I found this insect feeding most commonly 

 on the mounds of the Occident ant ( Pogonomyrmex occidentalis). 

 It may be of interest to mention that Dr. Walther Horn, of Berlin, 

 has recently described a new North American Amblychila, calling it 

 Am. swartzi, thus recognizing four forms — cylindriformis, baroni, 

 piccolominii, and swartzi. 



Tetracha virginica Linn. Occurs at Manhattan in June, July, and 

 August. Taken by me only in July, 1902. The notable scarcity of 

 this species during the past season in the Kansas valley may be at- 

 tributed to the June floods. 



Dromochorus belfragei Salle. Previous to 1902 this insect was re- 

 garded as rare in the vicinity of Manhattan, the annual catch by col- 

 lege collectors being confined to a few individuals each season. In 1902 

 it was abundant over a limited area southeast of town on the hills. 

 It was first observed June 15, by Mr. Charles Popenoe, who captured 

 a single specimen. On the following day I went with him to the same 

 locality and we succeeded in finding nearly fifty specimens. They 

 were afterward taken plentifully on various days uj) to about August 

 15. In all, six collectors took about a thousand of them. During the 



