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seeing any, whatever, after the second clay of their appearance. I watch< d 

 very carefully, nearly all of the third day. in the best locality known to 

 me, without seeing one, although the weather was favorable. 



Some young men living near by wen- quite familiar with the "bugs'' 

 and had noticed them for some years. These I hired to watch this 

 vears' brood for me, and on the first day after the rain ol October 1 6th 

 thev saw numbers of them, but being in hot pursuit of a deer and having 

 no convenience for "bottling bugs'", they failed to augment my codec 

 don. However their observations are good, in that they corroborate my 

 own about the sudden appearance and disappearance of the whole brood, 

 and thev also informed me they had never seen a Pleocoma fly in the 

 open pastures or cultivated lands, contiguous to the hills where the brood 

 >c i uired. 



Further observations, upon next years' brood will, 1 hope, enable 

 me to throw more light upon the habits of this interesting beetle, 



L. E. Ricksecker. 



Fall Collecting of Hymenoptera from Solidago sp 



and its Results. 



By C. L. Marlatt, Manhattan, Kan. 



The following results were obtained by sweeping the bloom of tw» 

 or three species of Solidago, notably S.rigida and »S\ speciosa, var. an- 

 eustata, one hour or so a day during the last week of September and the 

 fust of October. 



The plants in question grew along the sides of a grassy ravine left 

 uncut by the hay makers, and of them, S. rigida was the most abun- 

 dantly represented and yielded the best returns. Solidago speciosa, var.. 

 bloomed somewhat later and seemed to be an especial favorite of various 

 -pecies of Bombus and Apathus. 



The prevailing south-west wind of this season was blowing, and, \<\ 

 beating against it proved to be an efficient aid in collecting, both by 

 driving the insects the more readily into the net, and also in preventing 

 the flight of many of the shyer forms that in a calmer season would have 

 been with difficulty approached. 



The insects on plant after plant were driven into the net by quickh 

 beating the flowers; the wind and the quick movements of the net pre 

 venting their escape till a sufficient quantity was secured, when a few 

 quick motions of the net drove them to the bottom. 



Seizing the net just above the seething mass of insects and with the 

 aid of forceps thrusting the end of the net and its contents bodily into a 

 wide mouthed collecting bottle ensured the retention of all taken. A 

 few seconds in the bottle stupefied the ''catch 7 ', and it could be removed 



