Entomology of Soutiierx Alaska. 209 



water seemed to have driven the insects prett}' well together. 

 Wherever a lot of leaves had drifted into a hollow there were 

 plenty of Carabid^ and a few beetles of other families. These 

 are enumerated farther on. The tents of the part}- seemed 

 to be quite attractive to insects, probably on account of the 

 large expanse of light colored surface exposed, and in the 

 mornincjs I often took a number of soecies at rest in such 

 places. These were mostl}- small species, Staphylinida?, 

 Crvptophagidce and the like, part of them such as are found 

 around houses and it may be that some of them were attract- 

 ed by the smell of food. The high hill close to the camp did 

 not support the same fauna as the river bottom — but little 

 was taken upon it besides a few Cryfiohypmis noctiirmis^ 

 which occurred under logs resting on nearh- dry moss. 



Here I stayed for five days, collecting while it was light 

 and retiring at night to m}' tent, made of a large quilt 

 stretched over three willow arches. It was impossible to 

 sleep except under shelter on account of the swarms of mos- 

 quitoes, which also made the w^ork of collecting far from 

 pleasant. A little farther up the river some of the few white 

 residents wear hats with a bag-like gauze veil attached, after 

 the fashion of those used by bee-keepers; I tried wearing 

 mosquito netting over my face, but could not see through it well 

 enough to collect small insects and so had to go without other 

 protection than that afforded by smearing the face with a 

 mixture of oil of pennyro3'al and alcohol. This will keep them 

 off for a time, but a fresh application has to be made every 

 few minutes. 



Earh' on the morning of Sunday, the 19th of July, I started 

 on up the river with a canoe-load of Indians who had been 

 camping near us for two or three days. They pulled their 

 large canoe (which would hold twenty men and was hollowed 

 out from a single tree trunk) through the canon by means of 

 a line, two them remaining in it to keep it off the rocks. 

 iMeanwhile, after seeing them fairly started, I made my 

 way across the hill to the upper end of the canon through 



