732 i Hunting Amblychila. [December, 
the survey of our immense unoccupied domains might obtain the 
needed protection by government authority. But what profes- 
sional ** bug-hunter ” could hope for membership of such an èx- 
pedition, — much less aspire to the requisite military escort for 
- an expedition of his own for the sole purpose of hunting an in- 
sect, however rare and however valuable in the estimation of 
entomologists ? 
But notwithstanding the inaccessibility of the plains tọ col- 
lectors of insects, several attempts were made to overcome this 
difficulty. A distinguished American entomologist, not many 
years after the discovery of the second specimen of Amblychila 
in 1852, issued a circular containing a description and life-size 
figure of the beetle, and distributed it among the army surgeons 
at the various military posts in the Western Territories. Sev- 
eral additional specimens were in this way obtained, and several 
others were brought in by some of the more recent government 
expeditions. 
But Amblychila cylindriformis continued to be the rarest and 
the costliest of American Coleoptera. It could hardly be pur- 
chased for museums at any price, and not more than two years 
ago no less than fifteen and twenty dollars were eagerly paid for 
a single specimen. Indeed, a price-list of North American Cole- 
optera, issued at Cambridge only eight months ago, quotes the 
subject of this paper at twelve dollars per specimen. 
Two causes, however, have recently conspired to bring out the 
fact that this insect is by no means the same rarity in nature as 
in entomological collections. In the first place the removal of 
the Indian tribes from Kansas soil to distant reservations has 
made it possible for the collector of insects to visit the plains 
without incurring the imminent danger of losing his scalp ; and 
in the second place the discovery of the crepuscular and noctur- 
nal habits of Amblychila has led to the capture of great numbers 
of specimens during the past season. This discovery, which had 
been predicted by Dr. Le Conte, was actually made in the sum- 
mer of 1876 by Messrs. H. A. Brous and S. W. Williston of the 
Yale College Geological Expedition to Western Kansas, in charge 
of Professor B. F, Mudge. The members of this party obtained 
about one hundred specimens. During the present season sev- 
eral hundred specimens have been taken by Messrs. Williston a 
and Cooper of the Yale Expedition, and by the Kansas Univer- 
sity Expedition in charge of the writer. It is more than prob- 
able that the present year has been unusually favorable to the. | 
i a EEA 
