Report of the State Entomologist. 261 



forming the walls of an otit-house. They may have been of Mallota 

 harda, to which they bore a resemblance, but they could not be posi- 

 tively identified, for unfortunately the examples sent had been put in 

 alcohol, and none had been retained alive for rearing. 



*Anthrenus SCROPHULARM3 {Linn.). — The carpet-beetle occurred abun- 

 dantly on flowers of SpircBa, in Washington Park, Albany, on June 

 second. Anthrenus varius (Fabr.) was associated with it in about equal 

 numbers. 



June eighth, numbers were taken by Mr. William Beuttenmiiller 

 of New York city, on flowers of parsnip. 



July twenty-first, twenty-five of the larvae, of different sizes, were 

 received from a residence in Schoharie, N. Y., where they abounded. 



August ninth. Prof. H. M. Seely, of Middlebury College, Middlebury, 

 Vt., sent what he believed to be the carpet-beetle, as it was found in 

 large numbers associated with the A. scrophularice larvse when search- 

 ing for the latter in July. It proved, however, to be the Otiorhynchus 

 ligneus, which appears of late to have domesticated itself within 

 many dwellings (see Second Beport on the Insects of New York, 1885, 

 pp. 51, 52). 



November second, half-grown larvae and an imago were taken in my 

 house, the latter from a window curtain. 



Alaus oculatus (Linn.). — ■ As this large snapping-beetle — the 

 largest that occurs with us of its family, is often sent for name, 

 the accompanying figure and brief notice of it are given as aid in 

 its recognition. 



It is an inch and a half long, with ribbed wing-covers spotted with 

 white; its thorax one-third 

 the entire length of the 

 insect, largely covered • 

 with white scales like a 

 white powder, and bear- 

 ing centrally on each side, 

 a large oval, velvet-black 

 spot ringed with white. 

 Its specific name is given 

 to it from the marked 



resemblance of the two 



,-1 . , , p Pig. 58. — The owl beetle, Alaus oculatus, with 



tnoracic spots to eyes, tor enlargements of antenna and tarsus. (After 



which they are commonly Emmons.) 



mistaken. It belongs to the family of Elateridoe, or spring beetles — 



the latter name referring to a peculiar arrangement of a spine and 



