274 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 'i 5 



Hctcroptera in Beach Drift. 



By J. R. DE LA Torre Bueno, White Plains, New York. 



In 1904, Professor James G. Needham published a paper on 

 beetles in beach drift,* setting forth a remarkable occurrence of 

 Lachnosterna on the shores of Lake Michigan, where they 

 were cast up by wind and tide in the summer of that year. 

 This is the only formal paper bearing on this subject I am 

 acquainted with, although allusions to beach collecting and to 

 spring flights of insects which take them over waters, drown- 

 ing or overcoming them, to become the prey of insectivorous 

 animals of various kinds and the specimens of entomologists, 

 are not uncommon in the literature. Of Heteroptera, I have 

 no knowledge of other than stray records of species found on 

 the tide line. 



Apart from this being a ready means of collecting, Heterop- 

 tera in beach drift are worthy of notice and indeed are of great 

 interest, since at such times the winged form of normally ap- 

 terous species may be found, making it possible to secure these 

 very desirable rarities, and, of course, in many instances, per- 

 fecting our knowledge of certain species. It is notable also in 

 that many cryptic species emerge from their ordinary hiding 

 places and are thus seen to be of much greater abundance than 

 one might judge from the stray individuals taken here and 

 there. 



Another peculiarity is that there is seemingly no fixed atmo- 

 spheric condition making for these flights, which, so far as ob- 

 served, are not nuptial in character in the Heteroptera. Those 

 that I have personally secured have been found in July and 

 October, as noted further on. The wind, of course, has to be 

 in particular directions as regards the water. In bodies of 

 fresh water, the numbers found must be less than in salt water, 

 as the top-feeding fishes abound in the former and they must 

 eat very many. 



The importance of this form of collecting, apart from its 

 ecological significance, is perhaps best illustrated by the cap- 



♦Beetle Drift on L,ake Michigan, Canadian Entomologist, xxxvi, pp. 

 294-6. 



