Ninth Annual Meeting. 11 



sought by the owl. They are contented to find a retreat near the surface of the ground. 

 That owls prey on the young dogs is not to be doubted. While very young the dogs do 

 not venture far from their mother, remaining in the holes during the night, while the 

 owls are most active. In body these birds are smaller than (juails. The old dogs are 

 seldom attacked by the owls, and seemingly pay little attention to them after their young 

 are old enough to shift for themselves. In the rattlesnake they find an enemy not so 

 readily treated. No hole is secure : day and night the dogs are harassed by this, their 

 worst and deadliest foe. Deep holes are retreats admirably adapted to the wants of the 

 rattlesnake during the long winter months, where he finds a dry bed already prepared, 

 and palatable meals furnished by the young, tender dogs. Thus the old dogs are sub- 

 jected to great inconvenience, and, in an encounter, though they may drive the intruder 

 from their holes, are sure to be left in a dying condition. More than once, after seeing a 

 snake enter a prairie dog's hole, have I heard a struggle away down near the bottom. 

 Often the dog is driven out, and dies of its poisonous wounds, or, after the snake has left, 

 it succumbs, to be at last carried from its home by the remaining members. ( The dogs 

 carry off all effete matter. ) 



Sometimes, should the snakes venture into a hole where the occupants have been able 

 to make good their escape, they may be conquered. The dogs seem to hold a sort of 

 council for a few minutes, and then commence filling up the hole he entered. In 

 this way they very soon completely bury the snake alive, without subjecting themselves 

 to any danger. During this operation the snake keeps up a constant threatening. 



No animal ha.s been able tQ do without water for any protracted period. Now, are we 

 to suppose that prairie dogs are exceptions? While in a cage they partake of water 

 freely, and when it is withheld for any length of time, they become languid and die. 

 May we not conclude that in their prairie towns they have an underground passage to 

 water? The country on which the villages are usually located does not in any way go 

 to disprove it. Geologically, the idea and evidence strongly aid. Rain is too uncertain, 

 and in most cases is brief and long deferred; so that to suppose an animal could endure 

 the protracted drouth, where dews are very light or wanting, is decidedly improbable, to 

 say the least. If not by such wells, when surface-water is miles from the villages, in 

 what other way can water be obtained ? 



HABITS OF AMBLYCHILA CYLINDRIFORMIS. 



BY H. A. BROUS. 



DESCRIPTION. 



A.cylindriformis, Say. Color, pitchy black; 

 elytra often brownish. liabrum with two 

 obtuse teeth at middle. Head as large as the 

 thorax ; smooth. Eyes small. Thorax sub- 

 cordate, margin not prominent, surface 

 smooth, impuuctured, subapical transverse 

 impression faint. Elytraobloug, nearly twice 

 as long as wide, humeri broadly rounded, 

 sides feebly arcuate,apex suddenly declivous, 

 surface coarsely but not densely punctured, 

 and with two indistinct rows of larger punc- 

 tures and three fine carinse on each side, 

 the outer and inner extending to three- 

 fourths, the intermediate slightly longer. Body beneath nearly smooth. Length, 1.20-1.25 inches. 

 Male — iliniX trochanter acute and grooved. Fema/e— Hind trochanter shorter, obtuse and smooth. 



This beetle, usually considered very rare, is, I am satisfied, much more common than 

 heretofore supposed. I base this opinion on my own observations, and have a good col- 



