PROTECTR'E RESEMBLANCE, WITH EXAMPLES 107 

 Quaint Visitors to the Sap Fountains on the Oak 



UMBLEBEES miWt —was the first 



thought that came ''^W^' to mind, as I 



sighted some swarm '1 ^> ing flower beetles 



collected on the bark ■ of a young burr-oak. 



There was something in their flight which suggested 



that of a large bee. As I cau tiously neared the 



spot, I found there were nineteen bumble flower beetles, 

 Euphoria inda, yet they so perfectly simulated the Ijark that 

 it required careful examination to count them. Some were 

 closely packed togetlier, others moved about here and there 

 ■within a small circumscribed area of about four inches while 

 still others crawled over the backs of the quiet ones struggling 

 for places of rest. Sometiujes one, or perhaps several, would 

 become crowded from their stations, and were forced to take 

 wing. With loud buzzing of wings, the dislodged members of 

 the group would make short temporary circuits into the air, 

 they then would settle back on the bark, again joining the 

 assenil)lage. 



This harmless species of beetle is sometimes seen in sunny 

 spots early in the spring before the snow is fairly oft' the ground. 

 They then fly like the bumblebee alone near the earth among 

 the herbage, rnakuig as niiicli ado vvilli llieir buzzing wings as 

 the largest of our bumblebees. All through the summer they 

 are rarely seen. But in the latter part of September, I found the 

 special attraction on the oak that lures the fall brood. Destruc- 



