ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



51 



Notes on the Coleoptera. 



Two-thirds of all the species belonged to the Coleoptera, or insects in which the hind 

 pair of wings, when present, are the organs of flight, and are protected by the thickened 

 front pair, known as elytra. A large proportion of our beetles are ground-dwellers, rov- 

 ing about through the herbage and moss, or hiding under stones and rubbish, and these 

 are best represented. Many of these are predaceous ; the remainder feeding chiefly upon 

 decaying animal or vegetable matter, and comparatively few attacking living plants. In 

 the above list twenty-two families are represented by 103 species, of which forty occurred 

 in "both gatherings, while twenty-seven were peculiar to the Farm and thirty six to the 

 swamp. The former locality furnished 383 individuals and the latter 594, so that, with 

 the beetles that escaped or were not preserved, there were considerably over 1,000 

 examples in these mosses, which certainly shows that they were pretty thickly distributed 

 throughout the swamps. 



Of the seven species of Carabidaj, Oodes fluvialis was a new record for Ottawa, while 

 Lachnocrepis parallelus is also an uncommon species here These beetles were found 

 under the thick covering of a prostrate log, and were in shallow cells in the earthy 

 matter on which the moss grew, evidently prepared to abide the winter there, as is done 

 by other members of this family. The Dytiscida3 and Hydrophilida? are aquatic or .sub- 

 aquatic beetles, although many of the smaller species live largely in decaying vegetable 

 matter. The Pselaphidfe, a family well represented both in species and individuals, con- 

 tains very small forms, which are stated to feed upon animal substances, and probably 

 subsist in part upon other small inhabitants of the moss. Bryaxis propinqua and B. con- 

 juncta are remarkably abundant, especially in Dow's swamp. Nearly one third of all the 

 species of Coleoptera belong to the Staphylinidte, a very extensive family which I have 

 not found time properly to study and of which there are many unnamed species in my 

 cabinets, even of the commoner forms. These beetles are slender, depressed, elongated 

 insects, with short elytra, remarkably quick and erratic in their movements, and living 

 chiefly on decomposing animal or vegetable matter. The genus Aleochara contains, how- 

 ever, true parasitic species. 



Of all our beetles the smallest species are those that belong to the family with the 

 very long name, Trichopterygidte, which signifies that they have wings fringed with hairs. 

 One species was present in great numbers, and although mere black specks on the white 

 paper the beetles are very nimble and run swiftly about. The members of the Crypto- 

 phagidcC and Lathridiidte are also very small, and subsist upon fungi and decaying vege- 

 tation. One of the most interesting beetles of the list is the pretty little Taphroceriis 

 gracilis, the only buprestid I have ever found hibernating. This species is taken with 

 the sweeping net in low meadows in June and I believe the larva feeds in the stems of 

 the sedges or large grasses. All the rest of the beetles are plant feeding, and the most 

 abundant species, Phytonomus nigrirostris, is known as a clover-pest. 



Hemiptera. 



Corimalsena pulicaria Germ 5 



Neotiglossa undata Sail 1 



Cymus angustatus Stal 5 



Salicia pilosula Stnl 3 



Scolopostethus affinis Schill 2 



Lygus flavonotatus Prov 2 



Corythuca arquata Sau 7 



? sp 17* 



Coriscus inscriptus Kirhy \ 



Salda sp. undescribed l 



Ulopa canadensis VanDuza 62 



Acocephalus mixtus Sai/ ? 6* 



Helochara communis Fitch 4* 



Philaenus sp 1 



Livia vernalis Fitch 1 



Notes on the Hemiptera. 



The species of Hemiptera include ten belonging to the division Heteroptera and five 

 to the Homoptera. They were more abundant in the drier mosses. Seven species were 

 common to both localities and four peculiar to each. The total number of individuals 

 was 118, of which more than half belonged to the curious short- winged species which Mr. 



