44 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. XXL 



even thoroughly decayed leaves, does not interfere with Dytiscidae. 



In the larger bodies of water it is very difficult to locate any 

 beetles, and in them, whether swamps, ponds or rivers, the beetles 

 seem to occur only in very limited spots which are usually separated 

 from the main sheet of water, such as the eddies or the small pools 

 along the shore. In fact the small water bodies are always best, and 

 the time most favorable for collecting is when the water is low or 

 almost dried up. 



Comparatively wild regions are better than such finely and thor- 

 oughly cultivated places as say the Cumberland Valley in the vicinity 

 of Chambersburg, Pa., or the big farms about Saint Paul and 

 Rochester, Minn. In New Jersey and New York and Massachusetts 

 and Virginia, where there are occasional wild spots scattered about, 

 the Dytiscidae are more plentiful. Mr. Schwarz once told me that he 

 considered the presence of cattle unfavorable for Dytiscidae, but Mr. 

 Roberts did not find it so in his collecting in Bennington Co., Vt. 

 If there are fish there are not so many beetles. 



These water beetles are well known to be excellent flyers and are 

 often attracted by electric or other lights. Correspondents in the 

 Winnipeg region have written me of the hordes of Dytiscus which fly 

 to the lights early in the spring and in the late autumn. Cfbister fini- 

 briolatus Say is often taken at lights hereabouts, while Eretes sticti- 

 ciis Linn, and Laccophilus quadrilineatus Horn are taken in this way 

 at McPherson, Kans., by Mr. Knaus. Mr. Fuchs in California col- 

 lects many water beetles, especially the Hydrophilidae, at light, and 

 so does Mr. Loding at Mobile, Ala. They are also collected at light 

 in the desert regions, great distances away from any known water 

 supply. 



While mentioning these flights of water beetles it is worth while to 

 recall Dr. Regimbart's interesting paper (Annals Ent. Soc. France, 

 1894) on Dytiscidae found in the debris of tobacco leaves. About 50 

 species were listed, 17 of these being described then for the first time. 

 These beetles and numerous species, nearly all small, of other families, 

 were gathered from dried tobacco leaves through the efforts of Mr. 

 Antoine Grouvelle, director at that time of the National Tobacco 

 Monopoly of France. Dr. Regimbart stated that these insects were 

 probably intercepted in their flight by the pubescence and stickiness 

 of the tobacco leaves. It is also possible, he said, that some were 



