150 



PSYCHE. 



[January 1SS9. 



perature and great humidity succeeded 

 during which time no beetles were 

 observed, but on 3 June it became warm 

 again and so continued, and these same 

 beetles again occurred, but much less 

 abundantly, and continued till 33 June, 

 after which no more were obser^'ed. 

 Mr. Klages collected during a few even- 

 ings at the electric lights suspended 

 opposite the large plate-glass windows 

 of some of the stores in Pittsburgh with 

 such success, that he sent to Europe 

 seven hundred specimens of C. willcoxi 

 and three hundred of C. scrtitaio?' (his 

 correspondents there write for more!). 

 Where these beetles came from is a 

 matter of speculation, but it is scarcely 

 supposable that all were raised in the 

 city. The number of individuals must 

 have been immense as the collecting 

 done by Mr. Klages and myself was 

 only at a few places, and for a very 

 brief period, and that in face of the 

 small boy, etc. , etc. , difficulty. Of Calo- 

 sonia calid/iiii^ which has alwavs been 



moderately abundant, not over a dozen 

 specimens were taken at light the whole 

 season. C. externum yielded five spec- 

 imens, Diplochila major four speci- 

 mens, Polymoechus brevipes six spec- 

 imens, Eryciis pioicticollis four spec- 

 imens, none of which had been taken 

 elsewhere. 



To show the great distances to which 

 water beetles flv, I mav state that at 

 the same place on the evenings of May 

 mentioned I picked up twenty-three 9 

 and four Z Cybister Jimbrio/aius^ one 

 ? Dytiscus fasciventris^ twenty-four 

 $ and seven Z Hydrophilus tri- 

 atigularis. The great hemipteron, 

 Belostoma americami7n could have 

 been taken by the peck. The nearest 

 point to the river is more than three- 

 fourths of a mile. 



The number of coleoptera and insects 

 of all ordei's that are attracted to the 

 electric lights in these cities is beyond 

 computation. 



EFFECT OF CONSANGUINITY IN 

 LEPIDOPTERA. 



The late M. Pierre Milliere contributed 

 an article, entitled, "Des resultats varies 

 que donnent chez les iepidopteres les accou- 

 plements consanguins," to // iiaturalisia 

 siciliano for May 1887. which contains facts 

 interesting to the biologist. He writes : 



"When, among lepidoptera bred in captiv- 

 ity, pairings continue from one generation 

 to another, without interrupting the series 

 of consanguineous unions by the introduc- 



tion of new blood, there occurs for each spe- 

 cies a particular result, in such manner that 

 the consanguineous and successive unions 

 not only do not produce, for the lepidoptera 

 in general, identical results, but, on the con- 

 trary, each species conforms to an influence 

 which is peculiar to itself." 



As illustrating this variety of effect of con- 

 sanguineous unions in lepidoptera the author 

 obtained fertile eggs for two successive years 

 from Hadena solieri; the third year only 

 about half the eggs hatched, while the fourth 



