Natural History of District of Columbia — McAtee 105 



A report on the fishes of Pluuiiner's Island and vicinity 

 has been published, treating 54 species, and one on the thrips 

 or Thysanoptera comprising 57 species from the island and 

 8 additional from neighboring areas. An account of the 

 flower-flies or Syrphidae of the Washington area, includes a 

 statement to the effect that 70 species of this family have 

 been collected upon Plummer's Island and 39 others from 

 the adjacent river valley. 



A list of the Orthoptera or insects related to the grass- 

 hoppers and crickets is in press, in which 72 species are 

 recorded from the island and 32 others from the surround- 

 ing region. In other groups the total number of species thus 

 far collected upon the island are about : Mammals, 27 ; birds, 

 150; reptiles, 18; amphibians, 12; bugs, 450; flies, 500; and 

 beetles, 1,500. The area of the island is only about 12 acres. 



From the wealth of material that has been collected, it is 

 difficult to pick out things deserving special comment. The 

 two new families of hymenoptera — the Vanhorniidae and 

 Myersiidae, both named for their collectors — cannot be over- 

 looked, for new families are not discovered every clay. 

 Among other insects worthy of mention are the Lygaeid bug, 

 Tempyra biguttukt, the nearest collecting station for which 

 is in Texas; and the little jumping bug, Glyptocombus sal- 

 tator, both genus and species being described from Plum- 

 mer's Island, where only it has been collected. Among Neu- 

 roptera the earwig fly, Merope tuber, and the lacewing fly, 

 Meleoma signoretti, both of northern distribution, are not- 

 able. The latter species, at the time of its capture here, had 

 been taken no nearer than in the White Mountains. Beetles 

 of particular interest are Chionanthobius schivarzi, genus 

 and species described from Plummer's Island, a weevil that 

 breeds in fruits of the fringe tree, and another weevil, Hor- 

 mops abdncens. not previously collected north of Florida. 

 Flies of most note that have been taken on the island are 

 the early spring flower fly, Merapioidus villosus, known pre- 

 viously only from type material, and the blood-sucking moth 

 fly, Flebotomus vexator, the occurrence of which on Plum- 

 mer's Island was the first record of the genus in the United 

 States. It is remarkable that two mammals have been col- 



