﻿— 137— 

 NOTES AND NEWS. 



While beating near Anglesea with Mr. Wenzel, May 28 and 29, 

 we found the Oaks, the most abundant plant there, fairly swarming 

 with larvae, Teiithi'ediyiid and Geometiid. Not a leaf but had a larva, 

 and most of them had a dozen. Many of the smaller trees were 

 almost defoliated, and we were soon covered with caterpillars from 

 head to foot. The umbrella and beating-net were filled with larva:-, 

 and we were compelled to abandon the shrubbery for the open field, 

 and even there every little seedling Oak was covered with larvae. 

 In the shrubbery the dropping of frass sounded like the pattering 

 of rain, and was incessant. Skirting the wood, Mr. Wenzel noted 

 a Calosoma willcoxi in pursuit of a Geometrid larva which was 

 straining every nerve to get away. The Calosoma soon overhauled 

 its victim and began eating it despite its struggles. Several of the 

 beetles were beaten off" the trees and several were taken by us run- 

 ning on trunks and branches. They could be easily seen and were 

 perfectly at home in the trees; one pair was taken by me in coitii, 

 the female running about on the twigs in search of prey. Only one 

 specimen oi scrutator ^n^^ seen, while oi willcoxi ^n^ carried off about 

 twenty specimens and might easily have taken many more. At 

 light, in the evening, willcoxi was also the common species. This 

 was the first time I had ever seen this pretty species alive. 



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In beating dead branches of Oak in Cape May County, N. J., 

 Mr. W^enzel ran across a few specimens of Cyrtinus pygtiKciis. 

 Further and more careful search showed that the larvae had riddled 

 many of the terminal twigs, and many specimens of the imago were 

 collected on these branches. A day or two after, May 28th, I found 

 in the same region as many as eight specimens from a single branch, 

 six of them in the umbrella at the same time. They bear a decep- 

 tive resemblance to ants when running around in the umbrella. 



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We can testify from personal experience that the mosquito, in 

 Cape May County at least, is not yet exterminated; there was about 

 a million of him investigating Mr. Wenzel and myself recently, and 

 not a solitary dragonfly in sight! Ordinarily I am provided with 

 (and use liberally on face, neck and hands) a mixture of equal parts 

 of olive oil and oil of tar (oil of pennyroyal will do as well), and am 

 not bothered by them; but this time a weak reliance on the effect 

 of the recent essays induced me to go off" without this mixture, and 

 I had to take the consequences^ I recommend the above mixture 

 as very eff"ective and conducive to comfort where mosquitos abound. 



