438 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 299. 



facilities of the Station are offered. Tlie 

 location is admirably suited to the purposes 

 in view. N"ear at hand there is a very 

 great variety of aquatic situations and a 

 rich and varied aquatic fauna. The 

 aquatic insects most abundantly repre- 

 sented are caddice flies, dragon flies, may 

 flies and aquatic Diptera : much work has 

 already been done here on the life histories, 

 habits and ecology of these. 



The Station for the present season finds 

 quarters in the Adirondack Fish Hatchery 

 building at Saranac Inn, where an abun- 

 dance of running water renders possible the 

 rearing of the insects which live in the 

 limpid streams outside. The initial equip- 

 ment of the station was excellent, and the 

 work has been prosecuted under favorable 

 circumstances. While no instruction is 

 offered here, an effort will be made to re- 

 port the result of the work in such form as 

 to be available for the use of teachers of 

 natural science generally. 



The houseboat ' Megalops ' of the Zo- 

 ological Survey of Minnesota has just been 

 closed and put into winter quarters near 

 the southern boundary of the State. This 

 houseboat was built at Mankato a year 

 ago last spring, for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the fauna of the Mississippi and 

 Minnesota rivers from Mankato to the 

 southern boundary of the State. Special 

 attention was given to the fishes. The 

 reptiles, amphibia and mollusks also re- 

 ceived considerable attention. The smaller 

 forms are to be studied more carefully at 

 stations to be established where the experi- 

 ence of the past two seasons has found the 

 conditions to be most favorable. It is the 

 intention of the Director of the Survey, 

 Professor Nachtrieb, to use the houseboat 

 as headquarters for these investigations 

 near the head of Lake Pepin. Thus far 

 the houseboat has proved to be a most sat- 

 isfactory and economical institution for 



such work. The results of the investiga" 

 tions will be published in the Zoological 

 Series of the Eeports of the Geological and 

 Natural History Survey of Minnesota. 



Some very excellent and satisfactory 

 work has also been done on the birds of 

 Minnesota during the past season. This 

 work is under the immediate direction of 

 Dr. Thomas S. Roberts. The work on the 

 fishes is under the immediate direction of 

 Professor U. O. Cox, of Mankato. 



THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE* 

 The Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarea 

 deeem-lineata Say, is one of several closely 

 allied forms that have spread over ISTorth 

 America until one or more is found in al- 

 most every part of the continent east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, and south of 50 degrees 

 north. 



The parent form L. undecem-lineata, seems 

 to have originated in the northern part of 

 South America. When the great north- 

 ward migration came following the retreat 

 of the continental glacier, it is probable 

 that this form also went north, and in its 

 journey encountered the diversified Mexi- 

 can region, where it split into several racial 

 varieties, each characteristic of a certain 

 climatic area. As the advancing hordes 

 spread northward, three well marked cli- 

 matic belts were encountered, the Pacific 

 Coast belt of Mexico, and the Mexican 

 table land, and the low Gulf Coast area. 



From the Pacific coast strip not much 

 evidence is obtainable as to the presence of 

 these beetles, or the changes produced upon 

 them. On the table-land, however, the 

 form was diminished in size and the pig' 

 mented areas are broken up into smaller 

 spots. This form which is called L. multi- 

 lineata grades into L. xmclecem-lineata on the 

 south, and to the northern part of the Mex- 

 ican plateau passes imperceptibly into L. 



* Abstract ot a paper presented before tbe Section 

 of Zoology of the American Association. 



