1896.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 135 



origin below the outer angle of the cell is a small round spot, and on 

 either side of vein 5 near the lower outer angle of the large, oblong, 

 quadrate spot are two similar round, small spots. Beyond the subtrian- 

 gular spot near the costa is a small, round, translucent point. The base 

 of the primaries is dark brown, the brown tract being defined externally 

 by a twice curved paler violaceous line, beyond which there is a very 

 irregularly dark violaceous band defined externally by a pale line exceed- 

 ingly irregular in shape and closing in its upper portion a dark maroon- 

 brown spot, which bounds the translucent spots at the end of the cell on 

 their inner margin, and is continued downwardly across the middle of the 

 wing to the inner marging, widening toward the inner margin. This dark 

 fascia of rich brown is succeeded by two crenulate and irregular pale dis- 

 cal bands, separated by a darker brown line between them, the outer one 

 accentuated by some dark brown patches between veins i and 3 and veins 

 4 and 6. The outer portion of the wing beyond these lines is pale wood- 

 brown marked with some obscure submarginal acuminate brown cloud- 

 ings. There is a subtriangular dark brown spot on the costal margin just 

 before the apex. On the underside the primaries are plain, the transverse 

 bands and lines and dark markings of the upper surface being obsolete 

 for the most part; the secondaries have the costal region near the base 

 pale brown, the outer margins laved with purplish brown, the middle 

 area, especially toward the inner margin, dark maroon-brown, interrupted 

 by the translucent spots clustered about the end of the cell. Of these 

 spots there are ten, four of them large, the others small and circular. 

 From this cluster of spots there runs inwardly to the inner margin a gemi- 

 nate pale greenish waved line. The underside of the secondaries is plainly 

 colored like the primaries, being dark wood-brown with lighter reddish 

 markings about the translucent spots, as is also the case to some extent 

 on the primaries. Expanse 85 mm. 



During a biological trip to the Dismal Swamp in October, 1895, I was 

 impressed by the great numbers of Carabid beetles {Carabus vinctus) 

 which swarmed everywhere in the vicinity of the shores of Lake Drum- 

 mond. That which interested me most about them was a food habit I 

 had not before noticed. All kinds of refuse animal matter, whether from 

 fish, flesh or fowl, was attacked and greedily devoured by these voracious 

 insects. As many as a dozen were seen feeding about an old fish head, 

 or grouped around a bit of fresh skin or muscle. I soon found though 

 that they were not an unmixed blessing, because small mammals left in 

 the traps long after sunrise were certain to be more or less damaged. 

 Some specimens were so badly mutilated that only the skulls could be- 

 saved. Never before have I seen them feeding on anything except insects 

 which they had captured. — W. K. Fisher. 



