166 Notes upon the Food of Predaceous Beetles. 



served to spring upon a small salmon-colored maggot-like 

 larva, and, after disabling it, to start off' to select a proper 

 place to devour it. After the lapse of several minutes, it 

 returned to drag its victim under a small clod of dirt and 

 leisurely feast upon it. 



After the same manner a Bradycellus rupestris Say was 

 surprised under a stone while eating a small white thread- 

 like worm. 



Another family of beetles whose hitherto almost untar- 

 nished reputation it seems to have fallen to my lot to soil 

 is the Ooccinellidae. With the exception of Epilachna 

 horealis Fab. the larva of which feeds upon the vines of 

 the gourd family,' these insects in our country have been 

 considered strictly carnivorous, although several European 

 species are known to deviate from this rule. 



This season, specimens of Megilla tnaculata DeG. have 

 been taken while feeding upon the pollen of the dandelion, 

 Taraxacum dens-leonis, and it is not at all improbable that 

 the pollen of other plants also forms a part of their diet, 

 as they are rather common upon the blossoms of plants 

 and fruits. 



No accurate estimation of the value of the Ooleoptera 

 could be obtained without including the Telephoridae. Be- 

 sides Chauliognathuspennsylvanicus Forst., which has been 

 found feeding upon the larvae of the Gonotrachelus nenu- 

 phar Hbst.,^" and Telephorus hilineatus Say, which is such 

 a powerful auxiliary in checking the ravages of the west- 

 ern locust," Poddhfiis tomentosus Say has been observed 

 feeding upon the cottonwood gall-lice, Pennphigus populi- 

 vence Fitch, and the P. poptdicaulis Fitch. These beetles 

 sometimes place themselves at the opening of the gall, 

 occasionally as many as four together, and catch the ma- 

 ture lice as they attempt an egress, and sometimes plunge 

 their flat head and thorax into the cavity and draw forth 

 and devour large and small indiscriminately. During the 

 latter part of June and the first of July these beetles are 

 very abundant, not only upon trees a.ffected by gall-lice, 



but upon other plants also. 

 «Am. Ent., Vol. II., p. 373. 

 ^°Am. Ent., Vol. I., pp. 35 and 51. 

 "Report U. S. Ent. Comm., Vol. I., p. 302. 



