PSYCHE. 



NOTES ON THE WINTER INSECT FAUNA OF VIGO COUNTY. 



INDIANA,— I. 



BY W. S. BLATCHLEY, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 



One of tile greatest problems which 

 each of the living- forms about us has 

 had to solve during the years of its 

 existence on earth is how best to per- 

 petuate its kind during that cold season 

 which once each year, in our temperate 

 zone, is bound to come. Many are the 

 solutions to this problem. Each form 

 of life has, as it were, solved it best to 

 suit its own peculiar case, and, to the 

 earnest student of nature, there is 

 nothing more interesting than to pr\' 

 into these solutions and note how varied, 

 strange and wonderful they are. 



As far as I can ascertain but little 

 has as yet been written concerning the 

 winter habits of insects, and yet every 

 one of the 30,000 or more species known 

 til inhabit Noith America survives the 

 cold season in some form. 



At present I have a knowledge of 

 but two papers that have been written 

 on the subject.* One, ''On Winter 



* Since writing tlie above I liave, lliiough the kindness of 

 Mr. S. H. Scudder, been en.ibled to examine a rare and 

 little known paper which was published by Dr. Asa Fitch 

 (Am. Journ. Sci. Agric, v , 1S46, 274), on " Winter Insects 

 of Eastern New York." In it Dr. Fitch describes as new 

 aild gives the habits of the following eight species of 

 insects which he found quite common in winter in the 

 locality mentioned : Boreits iiivoriundiis, B. hrmnaUs, 

 Perla nivicoia, Nemmtra nivalis, Culex hyenialis, Chiro- 

 nODiits nivoritutdiis, Trichoceru hrinnnlis and Podiira 

 nivicoia. With the exception of the last, these belong to 

 the orders Neurof>tera and Diptera, the members of which 

 I did not collect. 



Collecting," by H. T. Fay, was pub- 

 lished ill the Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., 

 1S63, V, 194, in which 129 species of 

 beetles were listed as having been taken 

 during the winter mouths inthe vicinity 

 of Columbus, Ohio. This paper I 

 have never seen and have a knowledge 

 of it only through Psyche. | The other, 

 "Our Winter Beetles," by H. F. 

 Wickham, appeared in the Canadian 

 Entomologist, xxiv, 1S92, 99, in which 

 33 species are mentioned as having 

 been noted near Iowa City, Iowa. 



Dr. A. S. Packard, in his "Ento- 

 mology for Beginners," p. 41, makes 

 the following statement : — 



" During the winter the species (of 

 insects) in most cases are represented 

 by the egg alone. Rarely does the 

 mature insect hibertiate^% though one 

 will find a few ichneumons, beetles, and 

 bugs under leaves and the bark of trees ; 

 but in many species, especially moths, 

 the pupa hibernates to disclose the 

 imago in the spring or early summer. 

 Larvae seldom live through the winter, 

 although there are some well known 

 e.xceptions to this law." 



In January, 1S91, I began to collect 

 tlie Coleoptera and the Hemiptera- 



t October, i8gi, 162. 

 \ The italics are mine. 



