20 



I have not yet ascertained what others have clone, but the following notes of my own 

 observations may interest some readers of the Er,tomologi>t :, 



At the opening of the season the Cockchafer {L. fusca) was almost the only visitant, 

 but in such numbers that specimens might be collected by the quart for a few evenings. 

 Gradually other species appeared. Belostoma americanum and Calosoma calidum were 

 conspicuous, the former for its size, and the latter for its beauty. The former has 

 obtained the popular name of the " electric light bug." It is supposed to have appeared 

 with the lamps, and is oftenest brought to me for identification. The grave.digger beetles, 

 Necrophorus, tSilpha and Hister, were not infrequent. Why they come to the light is not 

 easy to say. Possibly the carrion which they usually seek is slightly phosphorescent, and 

 attracts them by its glow, and they are deceived by the brilliancy of the electric arc. 

 Several small Carabids were abundant about the same time, but have not yet been 

 identified. 



As June advanced moths became more abundant than beetles, not because the latter 

 fell off, but because the former largely increased. On warm evenings a perfect swarm 

 played round the lamps, hour after hour. Every now and then one and another dashad 

 into the globe, struck the glowing carbons, dimmed the light and was killed or consumed 

 with a hissing noise. By morning a handful, sometimes a half pint, of dead insects was 

 accumulated at the bottom of the lamp-glass, mostly scorched and burnt. In this way 

 immense numbers are destroyed, but no apparent diminution ensued.' One morning in 

 June I obtained about a hundred specimens of the very abundant little grass moth 

 (Crambus mutabilis Clem.) from every lamp examined. This means a destruction of 

 above ten thousand individuals nightly of this one species. As the process has been 

 going on for at least a fortnight, the 10!i lamps in this city have killed about 1,500,000 

 individuals. Yet still they come, and in undiminished numbers. 



Since then, Dart-moths (Cut-worms) of various species have begun to appear. About 

 i lie middle of June I collected above fifty specimens from three lamps. It was apparently 

 A. subgoihica Haworth, though Riley (Entomolog. Pep. of Mo., 1868, p. 82) says that 

 this species does not appear till September. Positive identification of these moths is often 

 difficult. This implies the destruction of about 1,500 nightly. Other species of Dart- 

 moths not yet identified were equally numerous. One would tlrnk such wholesale 

 slaughter must diminish their numbers, and perhaps the results will be seen in future 

 years. It' the eggs were hud previously no such result could be expected. But the 

 frequent occurrence of eggs in the collecting boxes shews that this is not the case. 



The Tiger Moths (Arctic, etc.) have been equally abundant, especially A. virgo. 

 Were all that I have collected identitied, as I hope they soon will be, the list would be 

 long. 



The white-lined Hawk Moth (D. Uneata) with others of the same family, is a frequent 

 visitor. The Water Tiger, D. marginalis, with two or three smaller Dytiscids, are often 

 taken. These and most of the heavy iliers strike the globe and fall stunned to the ground, 

 but soon recover unless boxed at once. 



The Stag Beetle (L. Jama) and Fire fly (P. pensylvanica) appeared later and less 

 frequently with the great Lebia (L. grandis) and Dichelonycha elongatula, the latter for a 

 few evenings in great abundance. A single specimen of the Codling Moth was captured. 



About the end of JTune a new fauna began to appear. The Cockchafers had nearly 

 disappeared. But the great Ground Beetle (H. caliyinosus) supplied the place, and in so 

 great numbers that one evening I filled a four-ounce bottle in fifteen minutes. With it 

 came two, to me, unexpected visitants, the Blister Beetles (L. vittata and atrata.) 



This is but a partial list of the species already collected. Several of the large and 

 conspicuous moths have been met with, and I hope later to send a longer catalogue. 



But we are not the only insect hunters about the electric lamp. Every evening the 

 toads congregate until the ground is alive with them, and food is so plentiful that they 

 are sometimes almost unable to return to their holes and often past hopping. Several 

 times also I have suspected the presence of skunks, but have never yet seen a frog. 

 Small boys, too, flock to the lights for the sake of stamping on the cockchafers and 

 other insects that lie disabled on the ground. Between the toads, the skunks and the 

 small boys, the entomologist is sometimes hard put to it, and must work late at nights or 



