226 KANSAS ACADEJlIY OF SCIENCE. 



SAND-DUNE COLLECTING. 



By W. KNAUS. 



For the past four years it has been my custom to collect Coleoptera among 

 the sand dunes and "blow-outs" along the northern valley of the Arkansas 

 river and some 20 miles southwest of McPherson, Kan., and two or three 

 miles southwest of Medora, a station on the Rock Island railway, in Reno 

 county. 



The sand dunes and hills are the sport of the winds which cut out im- 

 mense excavations from the white sand, piling it out on the prairie in great 

 heaps. The margins of these dunes and the excavations are the favorite re- 

 sort of several species of Cicindelidae, Scarabeidae, Tenebrionidae and other 

 Coleoptera. 



I first collected in this locality in May, 1891, making my first trip on the 

 5th of the month. Before reaching the sand hills, I took along the railway 

 track numbers of Cicindela vulgaris and repanda. Around the base of the 

 dunes and the bottoms of the "blow-outs" Cicindela scutellaris were numer- 

 ous and formosa less so. In the same locality I took a single Geopinus in- 

 crassatus, an Aphodius, Trox aequalis, two or three Melanotus fossils, a few 

 Anomola binotata and Eleodes extricata, and two specimens of an Euphorid, 

 since identified by Mr. Chas. Liebeck, of the American Entomological Society, 

 as Stephanucha pilipennis Ki'aatz. Of this rare species I collected 10 speci- 

 mens in the same place in May, 1893, and two specimens in May of this year. 

 A single specimen, I believe, was collected by Professor Popenoe in the spring 

 of 1893, at Manhattan. 



The willows on the sand dunes yielded one specimen of Gastroidae for- 

 mosa the first season, and two specimens this season. 



In 1892 the season was two weeks later, and my collecting in this locality 

 was done in the last half of May. Associated with Cicindela scuiellaris and 

 formosa, I took a few specimens of the beautiful venusta taken in western 

 Kansas, but never before in central Kansas. I found none of this variety in 

 1893, but the present season they were almost as numerous as scutellaris or 

 formosa, and I added a fine series to my duplicates. 



The spring of 1893 was unusually cold and windy, and the dunes were 

 higher and the "blow-outs" deeper than ever. My best collecting ground 

 that season was at the bottom of the "blow-outs" from 7 to 9 a. m. The 

 Coleoptera were sluggish and easily taken. Ten specimens of Stephanucha 

 pilipennis were taken as they slowly walked over the sand or were found 

 dead. Several Anomola binotata, one minuta and a fine lot of Chalcodermus 

 collaris were taken along the sides of the "blow-outs." I also took two fine 

 specimens of a black, shiny Cremastochilus, since identified as nitens. The 

 carabidae taken were represented by a few specimens of Dyschirius globulo- 

 sus, Tachys incurvus, Pterostichus erythropus, Nothopus zabroides, Stenolo- 

 phus ochropezus, Harpalus herbivagus and a Harpalus sp. 



The Chrysomelidae taken were a Graphops nebulosus and Pachybrachus 

 tridens. The Stapalinidae were represented by a Philonthus varius, a Phil- 

 onthus sp., and a Stenus sp. Two or three species of Saprinus, a species of 

 Limnichus not before taken in the state; several Canthon ebenus, Chalepus 



