Insect Life on the Western Arctic Coast of America 29k 



common. The first Brenthis were seen on the 6th, the first Oeneis on the 7th, 

 the first Erebia on the 9th. An occasional phryganeoid imago is seen and a 

 great variety of flies, crane-flies, (tipulidae), and midges. Small jumping-flies 

 were common on dry seaweed July 1. The first biting mosquitoes {Aedes sp.) 

 were seen July 9, at the harbour, and soon became troublesome. 



Among the many insects found upon the ground, large spiders {Lycosa sp.) are 

 seen feeding on other spiders, and beetles. Minute, dark-red mites (Trom- 

 bidium sucidum) frequents the gravelly slopes with southern exposure, where an 

 occasional weevil {Sitona sp., Trichalophus sp.) or chrysomelid beetle, and the 

 common carabids may also be seen. The minute hemiptera {Ortholytus sp.?) 

 are seen only on calm, sunny days or in well-sheltered places, otherwise remain- 

 ing hidden in the plant tufts (Oxytropis, Potentilla, etc.). They make a noise 

 something hke the chirp of the grasshopper. They were first noticed July 6 and 

 were in different stages; the smallest ones moulted, embedding their trunks in 

 a plant stem; the somewhat larger ones had orange abdomen, head, and wings, 

 with blue-black eyes and dark, brown legs. The largest were green with head, 

 eyes, wings, and legs light brown. All had two pairs of rudimentary wings. 

 Other small, wingless, dark brown hemiptera 2 mm. long, were seen. Puparia of 

 various flies taken from plants and moss were placed for rearing on 7th (Rearing 

 67) and from one of these the imago emerged five days later. 



Among the various lepidopterous larvse and pupae was the caterpillar mining 

 in the stems and root of Pedicularis lanata noticed for the first time this year 

 on the 4th. A cocoon collected on the 7th, had a smooth, black pupa 2 cm. 

 long attached to a stone and proved to be the rare moth Hyporaia f estiva; the 

 imago emerged on July 24, and began to lay its eggs two weeks later (Rearing 68). 



A pond on the tundra near the harbour contained only white oligochaete 

 worms (Henlea sp.), thus showing a surprising lack of insect life as compared 

 with other ponds. In a nearby pond were noticed two days later — larvse 

 of midges, dytiscids and in the overflow from the pond an abundance of animal- 

 culae. On July 6, many larvse, of all sizes, and pupse of common mosquitoes 

 (Aedes sp.) were found in ponds, and several intermediate stages were noticed; 

 first the abdomen shows the pupal characters; then the thorax; and soon the 

 "pre-pupa" much paler than the immediately following pupa appears. The 

 pupse are easy to rear, as they need no food, and about a week later the adults 

 emerge (Rearing 59, 59a). Efforts to rear the dystiscid larvse with these mos- 

 quito larvse as food, failed. 



July 11-20, 1916 



On the 14th inst., the shores of Dolphin and Union strait were visited and a 

 great number of flying insects were observed. Mosquitoes {Aedes nearcticus) 

 were troublesome in sheltered places; flies, Pogomyia quadrisetosa, Rhamphomyia 

 conservativa, etc.) were noticed on the flowers of Dryas, Potentilla, etc.; (PI. 

 I, fig. 1), and two female bot-fiies, (Edkmagena (Hypoderma) tarandi, were cap- 

 tured. They made no sound until placed in the killing bottle when they pro- 

 duced a buzzing noise of short duration. These are the flies whose maggots 

 are found in the caribou. Many bumblebees (Bombus sylvicola, etc.), butterflies 

 (Colias sp., Oeneis sp., Brenthis sp., Lycaena aquilo), and various moths were 

 collected ; the butterflies had wings scaleless and somewhat torn, where exposed 

 to the wind on the open tundra; the moths were found principally upon the 

 sheltered slopes of gravel ridges. The common invertebrates, including insects, 

 were observed in ponds; even a waterhole with brackish water and many green 

 algse contained midge larvse, and was teeming with dark-red copepods (Eury- 

 temora sp.) a favourite food for the phyllopods (Branchinecta paludosa), also 

 found here. 



