October — December 1S84.] 



PSrCHE. 



221 



counts for the scaicitv of tlie cicindeli- 

 dae. and the absence of Calosoma (not 

 a spechnen of which could he found) 

 in that part of the state. I might add in 

 this connection that I also took a pair 

 of Endociums manuerheimii, besides 

 some cerambycidac {Lcptiira abdomr 

 nalis) and some other colcoptera all on 

 one stump a good distance out in the 

 flooded forest. 



Not a specimen of tlie silphidae was 

 taken ; this is undonhtedlv owing- to the 

 great numbers of Inizzards, which efiect- 

 ually clean up every thing in the shape 

 of carrion. 



I noticed that specimens of Dicerca 

 obsciira, instead of taking immediate 

 fliglit \\ hen alarmed, loosed their hold 

 fromtheplants (wormwood \^Artcmisia~\ 

 and ragweed \_Ambrosia^ ) to which 

 they were clinging, and dropped to the 

 ground like weevils ; which is a far more 

 inactive mode of escape than that em- 

 plo^■ed bv some others of this famiU . for 

 example Clirysobothris femora ta . 



Cliauliognathus margiiiatus. whicli 

 is very abundant upon patches of blos- 

 som in the South, s(?ems to prefer vellow 

 flowers, as its color assimilates better 

 with the yellow : and upon these it is 

 generally' found. Though it is some- 

 times found upon white daisies, the stig- 

 mata of these are yellow, and help to 

 blend the color of the insect with that 

 of the flower. I noticed on 17 April that 

 many of these insects were intested with 

 a little red mite. 



1 took a specimen of Xcoclvtits ery- 

 tln-oci'phahis on a tuft of the common 

 ragweed \_Ambi-osia artciii/s/aefoh'a~\ . 

 18 May. Clinging in the green foliage 



of the weed, this cerambvcid, \vith the 

 four bright yellow transverse markings 

 of its elytra continuing clear around the 

 body, resembled exactly at Jirst sight 

 a species of hornet or wasp wdiich has 

 the abdomen encircled with yellow- 

 bands, so that I hesitated a moment 

 before capturing it. Its slender and 

 cylindrical form and long legs so like 

 a wasp's conibine with the bright 

 yellow bands to make up a deception 

 calculated to imbue moie animals than 

 one with the dread of a concealed sting 

 ready to prove eflective should thev have 

 the audacit\ to meddle with it. 



I noted an interesting fact relating to 

 sexual selection in Desniocenis pallia- 

 tus. These beetles ai'e quite abuntlant 

 on the elder leaves \_Sambuciis\ in 

 April, at this time pairing. On 22 

 April I noticed a verv brightlv Coloretl 

 pair in coitu upon a leaf, and on another 

 leaf right bv them an individual which 

 had tlie orange bases of the elytra not 

 nearly so bright or deeply colored as 

 nsLKil, but looking faded. On 27 April 

 I observed a similar instance of a 

 brightly colored ]3air \\ ith a dull color- 

 ed, lone indi\idual near bv. This 

 shows that the dull-colored indi- 

 viduals do not st.uid much chance of 

 pairing, but that the bright ones select 

 each other. Dull ones are not very 

 common, and are probably of chance 

 occurrence. I noticed that this species 

 was much more plentiful on the leaves 

 on cold and cloudv days than on warm 

 and bright ones. 



One morning, going by a wood-pile. 

 I heard something suddenly drop from 

 above and strike on one of the lower 



