42 



subfamily to which this species belongs are diurnal, and are found 

 usually on leaves and flowers of herbaceous plants in search of insect 

 prey. This species is also commonly found dead in spring under 

 logs, indicating that the adults die at the approach of winter. They 

 become adult probably about June i. One was picked up in the 

 blowsand beside a large area of bare sand. Others were taken under 

 logs in bunch-grass and in blowsand. 



Chauliognathus pennsylv aniens De G. 



The larvse hatch in late summer, pass the winter in a nearly full- 

 grown stage, feed ravenously in spring, pupate, and become adult in 

 summer. The larvse are predaceous, eating all kinds of soft-bodied 

 insects ; the adults feed upon the honey and pollen of various flow- 

 ers. Chauliognathus is rare in the sand region, while very abundant 

 in black-soil prairie regions of other parts of Illinois. It is usually 

 found on flowers, in company with the black blister-beetle, Bpicauta 

 pemisyk'anica. 



Podabrus tonientosus Say. June 24. 



Very common in other parts of the state, but rare m the sand. 

 One specimen, taken in flowers along a sandy roadside. 



Trichodes nuttalli Kirby. August 13. 



Specimens of this clerid were taken on Bupatorium perfoliatu)!! 

 in the sandy region of the lake shore at Waukegan, Illinois. Blatch- 

 ley records it from Porter, Kosciusko, Elkhart, and Crawford coun- 

 ties in Indiana; the first three counties are largely sandy. As the 

 Porter county specimens were taken in flowers of Opuntia, in an 

 association similar to the Illinois River bunch-grass, it seems prob- 

 able that the species is also to be found in the latter region. 



Lucanus placidtis Say. June 28, July i. 



A large brown "pinching-bug," so called from the large mandi- 

 bles. The eggs are laid in crevices in the lower bark of trees, and 

 the larvse feed upon wood in various stages of decay. They mature 

 very slowly. The adult beetles remain in or beneath decaying trees 

 or stumps by day, and emerge and fly about at night. The breeding 

 season is June. Occasionally found dead at the base of trees, usu- 

 ally in the mixed forest. Placidus is more frequently found in 

 sandy regions ; its close relative, L. dama, is commoner in other 

 parts of Illinois. Lucanus is essentially a forest insect and is not 

 a typical member of the bunch-grass association. 



Canthon nigricornis Say. June 28, July i. 



A member of the scavenger division (subfamily Laparosticti) 

 of the Scarabaeidac. Smaller than others of the genus; length, 6 



