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and depositing their own upon them. In due time the eggs hatch, the 

 larvae bore the wood and live their required time, until they come forth 

 as imagines to renew their war upon the dying or injured trees. As 

 these species are generally represented by thousands of individuals in a 

 given locality, it is easy to imagine how destructive they would be to 

 our forests and orchards were they to attack healthy trees. As it is, their 

 operations are fruitful of good in that they aid nature in the grand scheme 

 of life. The fallen tree is perforated in all directions, moisture enters the 

 perforations and Termites, fungi and decay all add their forces in reduc- 

 ing the wood to soil. 



Many interesting facts continually come under ones observation, 

 but the difficulty is in determining what is new and what is not. Thus, 

 I was astonished some ago, in watching a swarm of perhaps a thousand 

 Melanophila consputa and M. longipes, on some spruce trees and logs, 

 after, a fire in the woods. A large old spruce log, partly decayed, and 

 full of termites, had been subjected to considerable heat, and some of 

 the bark had slipped off. Here I saw and watched four different individ- 

 uals of Melanophila devour the scorched termites, which was the first 

 instance I had observed of a carniverous habit in the Buprestidce. This 

 may, however be well known to others, Then again some very common 

 facts seem to be little known. For instance, I once told Dr. Leconte 

 that our common Mitrius contractus was a bombardier beetle and he was 

 surprised to hear it.'' 



Melanophila longipes has been known to take playful nips out of ex- 

 posed portions of the human body, but actual carnivorous habits have 

 not been heretofore recorded to our knowledge. As to Metrius, the in- 

 formation is new. Dr. Horn has collected this insect and never noticed 

 the bombardier habit, and Mr. Julich has also taken them in large num- 

 bers without making that observation. Have any others of our Western 



friends noticed this fact? 



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The death of Mr. H. K. Morrison has made an opening for an in- 

 telligent, enterprising and good collector. Coleoptera and Lepidoptera 

 find a ready sale, and other orders are attracting increased attention here 

 and may also be disposed of in Europe. Who will undertake this? 



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To facilitate exchanges among collectors we will hereafter publish a 

 separate page of advertisements of offers and requests to exchange. A 

 uniform charge of 5 cents per line will be made and the ads. will remain 

 until crowded out by others. Desiderata may be mentioned and lists of 

 duplicates added. Check list numbers or names may be used. 



