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Eiisattus retiadatus, E71. difficilis and Eii. nmricahis may all be 

 found around the roots of bushes in sandy places during July and 

 August in New Mexico and Arizona. 



Eleodes, with its numerous species, is a genus very charac- 

 teristic of the West. They are known as ' ' circus-bugs' ' among 

 the Americans of New Mexico, on account, probably, of the antics 

 they cut if startled when running. Try to pick one up and it 

 elevates the abdomen as much as possible, nearly standing on its 

 head to do so. Then, if you insist on touching it, you have to 

 take the consequences. Some of the species eject an offensive 

 fluid from the anus in a fine stream, but in others it seems to 

 simply exude in a drop which adheres to the tip of the abdomen 

 until wiped off. They are so quick that it is almost impossible to 

 pick one up when it is aroused without the insect managing to bring 

 the tip of the abdomen against the fingers. The fluid is much more 

 offensive and caustic in some species than others, and often causes 

 a burning sensation when it touches the skin. I think that E. lon- 

 gicoUis has the most pungent secretion of any kno\\n to me. E. 

 dispersa Lee. is one of the commoner species at Coolidge, N. Mex., 

 in June, and may often be seen at the entrances of the burrows of 

 the prairie dogs. When pairing it may be seen in numbers in patches 

 of sand where the bushes are less numerous, running about in the 

 day-time or copulating in slightly sheltered spots. A hundred miles 

 farther west it gives place to the variety sulcipennis, which I have 

 never seen in companies at pairing time. E. suturalis I never took 

 west of Albuqurque, where it is rather rare. E. tricostata is com- 

 mon and lives chiefly at the roots of plants in company with obsoleta 

 and exiricata; with them is sometimes found E. Immeralis. In 

 California we find E. quadricollis under logs and on the border of 

 the Colorado desert. I got a few E. arviata, a fine species. E. 

 /ougicollis is widely distributed through New Mexico, Arizona, Col- 

 orado, Wyoming and the adjacent regions. It varies in sometimes 

 having the elytra rougher than the typical forms, which are nearly 

 smooth. E. gracilis is rather rare, and may be found running 

 around in the evening on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre 

 Mountains and on the Puerco divide from June to August. E. 

 nigrina is rather common in the mountains around Flagstaff", Ariz., 

 and E. hispilabris is found over an immense extent of territory. 

 E. caudifera is abundant in the valley of the Little Colorado, close 

 to the river; E. pilosa rare in the Sierra Madre, and E. hirsuta in 

 the southern end of Idaho. I got a few speciments of E. planipcn- 

 nis in the Sierra Madre in June, and two or three in the mountains 



