189 



gust 27, and after visiting some of the in'incipal Pine and Spruce for- 

 ests of Alsace-Lorraine and Saxony, in Germany; Schwyz, Lucerne, and 

 the Oberland Bernese Al-ps in Switzerland, I started back to America 

 on September 25, with over one thousand live specimens of Clervs formi- 

 cariiis, which was found to be especially destructive to various bark 

 beetles in all of the forests visited. After my return here on October 

 8, I found that the European species would readily attack and devour 

 the Destructive Pine-Bark Beetle, as well as other bark beetles nearly 

 related to it. 



From what I have observed and learned of this European bark-beetle 

 destroyer, I am confident that under proper management it will check 

 the ravages of the destructive pine bark beetle, and that this enemy of 

 scolytids will, in time, prove a valued protector of the pine and spruce 

 forests of this country. We have, therefore, arranged to introduce the 

 beetle into our infested forests in the greatest possible numbers. 



A detailed account of the investigations referred to in this article 

 will appear in a forthcoming bulletin, to be issued from the station at 

 an early date. 



AN INTERESTING WATER BUG. 



{Rheumatobafes rileyi Bergroth). 



In Insect Life (vol. iv, December, 1891, pp. 198-200) we described 

 and figured a remarkably interesting aquatic Heteropter, captured by 

 the Eev. J. L. Zabriskie, of Flatbush, L. I., in July, 1890, in the stream 

 of the waterworks at Flatbush. We stated in our brief notice that the 

 bisect was plainly a member of the family Hydrobatid;e and came 

 closest to Metrobates. 



Soon thereafter we received the communication from Dr. E. Berg- 

 roth, of Tammerfors, Fiidand, which is published in Insect Life 

 (vol. IV, p. 321), in which he says: "The insect undoubtedly belongs to 

 a new genus and species, which I propose to n-dme Bheumatohates rileyi. 

 It is, wath the recently described genera Hermatobates Carp, and Hemi- 

 diptera Leon, one of the most curious and interesting Hydrometridae 

 hitherto discovered." 



We have been anxious to obtain further specimens of this curious 

 insect, and Mr. O. Heidemann has recently succeeded in finding it iu 

 numbers, in both sexes, along the Potomac Canal, just above Washing- 

 ton. Through his kindness in donating a number of specimens to 

 the National Museum, we are enabled to present herewith a full de- 

 scription of both sexes of the imago, as well as of the adolescent 

 states. The excellent figures which accompany the article have also 

 been made by Mr. Heidemann, who, in addition to being our chief 

 Washington student of the Heteroptera, is an expert draftsman and 

 engraver. 



