186 



This insect was first described, under the name of Cicindela 

 hcemori'hoidalis, by Professor N. M. Hentz, in a paper read be- 

 fore the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, on the 

 2d of November, 1827, and published in 1828, with a figure, in 

 the third volume of the Transactions of the Society. It appears, 

 however, that the same name had been previously given to an- 

 other species, described, in 1823, in the second volume of Wiede- 

 mann's Magazin, and therefore Count Dejean rejected the name 

 adopted by Professor Hentz ; but in substituting another, in his 

 catalogue, and in the fifth volume of his " Species Generales des 

 Coleopteres," he gave it the unfortunate misnomer of Cicindela 

 Hentzii. Count Dejean's description of it was drawn from a sin- 

 gle male specimen, which he says " was sent to him by M. Le- 

 conte, who had received it of M. Hentz." The latter part of this 

 statement contains two errors. Dejean's specimen w^as sent to 

 him by Major Leconte, who received it from me as the Cicindela 

 hcBmorrhoidalis of Professor Hentz. The latter gentleman was 

 well known, at least by name, to Major Leconte, who therefore 

 can hardly be held accountable for the misnomer. 



Having been the first discoverer of this rare and pretty insect, 

 I now propose to give an account of the times and places where 

 it has been found, and to make some observations on its habits 

 and specific characters. 



Hitherto it has been met with only on the sides and top of the 

 Blue Hills, in Milton, Massachusetts. My first specimen was 

 taken, on the 20th of August, 1824, in a stony path, near one of 

 the ledges of sienite, forming a part of the Blue Hill range, and 

 about three miles and a half in a northeasterly direction from 

 the principal summit. As the insect rose and flew in the path 

 before me, its red-colored abdomen was exposed, and led me at 

 once to notice and distinguish it from the Cicindela punctidata^ 

 then common in other places. On dismounting from my horse, I 

 succeeded in catching the insect by throwing my handkerchief 

 upon it. Other specimens were sought for in vain in the same 

 place, then and afterward. It was not till the 20th of August, 

 1826, that two more were taken, basking on a large flat rock, in 

 a path leading to another part of the same range, and about one 

 mile and a half from the top of Blue Hill. In capturing them, a 

 rattlesnake, coiled up and concealed in a bush near the edge of 



