April, 1917 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 29 



A courteous question as to my pursuit, an inquiry about a flower 

 or tree, a sympathetic phrase about nature in one of its varied 

 forms, such things as these have been the small beginnings of 

 great things making life broader, happier. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON COLEOPTERA. 



By Edward A. Chapin.* 



During the past year several interesting facts in regard to the 

 feeding habits of various beetles were ascertained and some of 

 them seem worthy of publication. All observations reported here 

 were made in the vicinity of Springfield, Mass., during the spring 

 and summer of 1916. 



Late in the winter, a few twigs of Rhus glabra L. were col- 

 lected and placed in jars in the laboratory. As the object of the 

 experiment was to obtain clerids, it could not be considered a 

 great success, as only three specimens of Phyllohaenus dislocatus 

 Say appeared. This species was reported by Blackman,t from 

 the twigs of Pinus strohus L. However, the longicorns Liopus 

 fascicularis Harr. and Psenocerus supernotatus Say were very 

 plentiful. A mention of the latter species from this plant was 

 made by Dow.$ The minute ipid, Pityophthorus consimilis Lee. 

 was also very abundant in the wood, and it is probable that this 

 species furnishes something toward the food supply of the clerid. 



Numerous trips were made to the region along the railroad 

 where carrion, such as fowls, pigeons, cats, etc., are often found 

 and careful inspection of the remains usually produced good 

 results, especially in the families Silphidse, Staphylinidse and 

 Nitidulidse. An attempt was made to tabulate the relative 

 abundance of the species of the genus Silpha. For a period of 

 about three weeks collections of the specimens were made over 

 a restricted locality. On April 21, only the species incequalis 

 Fab. and novehoracensis Forst. were to be found but these were 



* Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. 

 fN. Y. State College of Forestry, Vol. XVI, November, 1915, p. 53. 

 X Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, Vol. XI, p. 20. 



