igoo] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 393 



cient to afford a rich fauna. My vi.sit was the fag end of the 

 season, and though I worked hard the results were not verj^ 

 large. Five common species of Cicindcla were in evidence, 

 repanda being very abundant in the river banks. The Carabidae 

 were pretty well represented. The river banks producing vari- 

 ous species of Bembidiiun , Tachys and Dyschin'us, as well as 

 Omophron, Harpalus, Platy7ius, Amara, etc. I looked partic- 

 ularly for Cychrus, but found only two specimens of the com- 

 mon lecontei. 



Water-beetles were very abundant in numbers, though not 

 particularly so in variety. Four species of Dytisats, among 

 them two of mar^inicollis (which is our rarest in Mass. ) , and six 

 or eight verticalis : Illy bins \-niaculatHs Lee. and biguttalus Germ, 

 were common, the latter very abundant, two or three species 

 of Agabus, innumerable Hydropor'us iDidulatus Say showing 

 many interesting variations in .spotting, and many hundreds 

 of other .specimens representing about a dozen species, also an 

 example of Hydrophiliis ovahis G. & H. 



In this connection I will diverge a moment to describe my 

 water net, which may be new to some readers, and which 1 find 

 very efficacious and easy to use. Take an ordinary wire dish- 

 cover, such as is used to keep flies from dishes, etc. ; remove 

 the handle, and clo.se the wires where it has been inserted, and 

 solder the cover by its narrow iron rim inside a short brass net- 

 ring, which .screws into an eight-foot bamboo handle. I use 

 an 8^-inch cover, and my ring is of quarter-inch brass wire — 

 the whole .screwed firmly into a one-inch bamboo stick. This 

 makes an exceedingly stiff, rigid net, which will stand any- 

 thing in the way of scraping round. The water passes through 

 it with the greatest ease, and, after a little practice, the beetles 

 can be scraped up, kept in, and taken out with amazing rapidity 

 as compared with a cloth net. The motions in using must, of 

 course, always be forward, so as to keep stuff in the net, and 

 a simple shovel-like motion is often very effective, while a 

 single back stroke cleans it. Dystisms margijiicollis is very 

 lively in the water. I have known it to jump out of the net 

 if the latter was free from debris, but a quick eye and hand 

 will always be able to frustrate any such attempt. But it is 



