1898.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 39 



RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD COLLECTING GROUNDS. 



By H. F. Wickham, Iowa City, Iowa. 

 III.— THE LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY (Continued). 



Water beetles were only superficially collected, chiefly by 

 dragging out great masses of algae from sloughs and thus secur- 

 ing the beetles which became entangled in them. Several Hydro- 

 philidae were obtained by simply stirring up the mud near the 

 banks and picking out the floating specimens of Helophorini 

 and Hydrobiini. One Dytiscid which seems to deserve especial 

 mention is Eretes sticticus. It inhabits, besides certain portions 

 of the southwestern United States, also Europe, Asia, Africa, 

 Oceanica, South and Central America. 



Several interesting species belonging to various small families 

 of Clavicorns were obtained. Anisosiicta seiiata was beaten 

 from "sea oats" on Padre Island, a low sandy strip lying off 

 Point Isabel, the port of Brownsville. The sand here was so hot 

 that spiders or ants shaken from the plants died in a few seconds, 

 going through the contortions exhibited by an insect which falls 

 on a hot stove. I found that an Oxacis frequenting these same 

 "sea-oats" took flight so quickly on being disturbed that it 

 was a matter of some difficulty to capture more than a small 

 percentage of those falling into my net ; but by closing the mouth 

 of the bag and holding it flat on the sand they were soon over- 

 come by the heat and rendered nearly helpless and could then 

 be picked out with no trouble. Near the town Coccinella abdo- 

 minalis was found abundantly; Chilocortis cacti was met with 

 occasionally and three species of Scymnus: collaris, cinctus and 

 terminatus were among the contents of the beating net. Quite 

 a colony of Epipocus cinctus was discovered on a polyporoid 

 fungus growing close to the ground on a dead tree trunk, and 

 several of them had strayed out among the dead leaves near by. 

 This insect is not uncommon in Southern Texas, and I have else- 

 where described the curious larva which is found in the same 

 situations as the beetles. Languria lata feeds on Argemone 

 mexicana, and numbers may often be beaten from a single plant. 

 Cryptorhopalum balteaium frequents the blossoms of mesquite. 

 Two species of Teretriosoma, chalybeum Horn and cornigerum 

 Chevr., were found under bark or else in the beating net after 

 working under dead vines. 



