Jan. 1887.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



15 



more than the mei'e solidifying of the exposed 

 body. It implies expansion. Any observer of 

 the action of lee in nature knows that it will 

 sjjlit boulders and rend ledges as surely as 

 dynamite, if not as suddenly. No one can es- 

 timate the expansive force of ice. In view of 

 this fact, it seems to me that an unsupported 

 assertion that all the pup;»3 of burrowing larv;t^ 

 survive solid freezing is a Action. The strain 

 upon the tissues would be such as to destroy 

 them. Freezing and thawing are disintegrating 

 forces, and so far as I am capable of observing, 

 no life where juices are involved can withstand 

 tliem. 



My experience with burrowing larv;i? satisfies 

 me that shelter and warmth are considered by 

 them in the selection of their resorts for win- 

 ter. Tliey always select a sheltered and well 

 protected spot for their burrows ; and by a glu- 

 tinous fluid, which they exude, make them 

 water tight. They withstand cold the same 

 as vegetation does. Our hardiest shrubs can- 

 not stand solid freezing! The sap lies in its 

 earth-fonts and the trunks and stems stand drv 

 and frosty in the winter air. The winter, when 

 the sap-centres beneath the ground are frozen, 

 is followed by the si)ring in which we say : 

 '"the shrub was winter-killed."' 



Ready writers are too hasty to advance 

 strange and bewildering themes. Mrs. Mary 

 Weat, in 1873, proclaimed that by careful ex- 

 periment, she thought she had demonstrated 

 '•'■that sex could be controlled in breeding butter- 

 flies /" While others have by experiment 

 found that size and color can be varied by 

 changes of food and temperature. I believe 

 no one, in the fourteen years which have since 

 elapsed, has corroborated this remarkable 

 statement, which at the time it appeared in 

 The American Naturalist, created no little ex- 

 citement among naturalists, and called out 

 many and diverse opinions upon the subject. 



Dynastes Beetles. 



I have already alluded to these interesting 

 beetles in the O and O and although it is many 

 years since I have taken any specimens, no 

 doubt a description of the locality and the in- 

 cidents of capture will be interesting. 



It was a sweltering hot morning in early 

 March; I had vainly endeavored to move my 

 leaky dugout from a mud bank on which ebb 

 tide had grounded her, so I made a virtue of 

 necessitj% "staked'' my clumsy craft and after 

 removing my nether garments I "bogged" 



ashore to a little palmetto island which was 

 the culmination of the nmd bank that had 

 brought me to grief. 



It was not a very jolly adventure on the start. 

 When the slimy mvid did not adhere to my un- 

 protected extremities the sand flies did adhere. 

 (Some well posted reader i)lease give me their 

 seven by nine name.* I have called them every- 

 thing I know and some things that I ought not 

 to know and would be glad to say just the right 

 thing at last). I raised a "snuidge" of green 

 cedar and as the fragrant smoke curled around 

 me I dug about in the dirt with a stick in mere 

 idleness, till suddenly I turned up such a mon- 

 strous beetle as I never saw liefore. 



I sat and gazed in astonishment and then 

 took it up very gingerly, for that strong long- 

 prow seemed just tttted to give a fellow a hard 

 nip unawares. But the beast turned out to be 

 harmless and quite sluggish, so I turned my 

 attention to searching for more. I think be- 

 fore flood tide set me free I found over a dozen 

 specimens of perfect beetles as well as a host 

 of larv;e and pupte. The latter I did not carry 

 away with me. 



When I got the beetles home I tried to kill 

 them and this was a diflicult task. From a 

 good night's rest in a cyanide bottle they 

 emerged well and hearty. Durhig the fore- 

 noon a benzine bath seemed to do them good. 

 So I boxed them up and went about my busi- 

 ness. Some time after, it may have been days 

 or weeks, — I cannot remember — I found two of 

 them dead in the box. It must have been from 

 weight of j'ears for no other weight seemed to 

 atiect them. They would have been a fortune 

 to a si)iritualistic medium. Books, flatirons 

 and bottles were daily passed around the table 

 by them. A convivial caller who saw a l)eer 

 bottle come jogging across the table towards 

 him was inclined to think he "had 'em agin." 



In conclusion I ought to tell what became of 



my queer specimens, l)ut the truth is the best. 



I really can't remember ; but I have no doubt 



there are plenty more where they came from, 



and I'll show you the place anv time. 



Bob. 



Wood Boring Beetles. 



BY L. K. HOOD. 



A vast number of the Coleoptera are depend- 

 ent, either in the Larval state or as perfect in- 

 sects, upon vegetation for their existance, and 



*Probably a Simulium Ed. 



