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mums, as it appears abundantly in early summer; there are, how- 

 ever, near one hundred species of Chrysanthemums distributed 

 throughout the different countries it inhabits which, blooming at 

 various seasons, may supply it with food, and it may have other 

 resources at present unknown. 



The larva is one of the rat-tailed maggots, and lives in any kind 

 of compost or mephitic mud, the more horridly foetid the better; the 

 elastic tail, which is capable of being extended more than two inches 

 to the surface, contains a double air tube, through which the larva 

 breathes. To contrast — the larva revels and fattens in the vilest, 

 most disgusting filth imaginable — the imago disports itself among 

 the fairest bloom and draws sustenance from the loveliest of the 

 lovely. 



Under the caption "Drone Fly," Rev. J. G. Wood, "Insects 

 at Home," gives a figure of the imago, and a very charming account 

 of the larva and its habits, from which the foregoing account of the 

 larva is mostly taken. 



The mode of life of the imago outside of greenhouses seems to 

 be unrecorded, at least such is the case in any of the American or 

 European literature consulted, a knowledge of which mode is now 

 of great interest, and must enter largely into any future attempt to 

 account for its distribution in America. 



REMARKS ON SOME WESTERN TENEBRIONIDiE. 



BY H. F. WICKHAM. 



Every collector who has had the pleasure of tra\'eling in that 

 part of our country lying west of the Missouri River, must have 

 noticed the great development of the Tenebrionidae as regards the 

 number both of species and of individuals. They form, in fact, the 

 most noticeable feature of the Coleopterous fauna of that region, 

 especially towards the South on the table-lands and plains of Texas, 

 New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California. 



Offering little variety in color, they differ widely in habits, and 

 their forms are extremely diverse, though most of them have a pe- 

 culiar habitus, which at once marks them as members of this family. 

 Some observations may be of interest to such of our Eastern brethren 

 who have never had an opportunity to study them in life, and in this 

 hope I ofter the following notes: 



Edrotes ventricosus Lee. Taken at Barstow, Cal. , under logs, 

 August 19th. Rare. E. globosus Casey is found about the roots 

 of weeds in the middle of May at Greeley, Col. 



