[141] Report of the State Entomologist. 283 



space of time, a candle in each of the four bed-rooms. Their assem- 

 blage in such numbers, under such circumstances, was a mystery to 

 me. A sash could not be moved without disturbing a dozen of them. 

 Hundreds could have been captured, but as many were in poor con- 

 dition and the species is a common one, twenty-five examples only 

 were brought away. 



The black-fly, Simulium molestum, was abundant, but not very 

 troublesome, for in the month of August it ceases to show the insa- 

 tiable disposition to gorge itself with blood that it manifests in the 

 preceding months.* A number of specimens were captured and bottled 

 for the Museum collections as objects of interest to the many who 

 have never recognized this minute yet most annoying pest of our 

 Northern Wilderness. 



Upon some cut poplars (Populus tremuloides) piled by the way-side, 

 a large number of a wood-boring beetle, Agrilus torpidus Lee, which I 

 had never met with before, were observed alighting from their flight 

 in the bright sunshine, and running actively, in jerking motions, over 

 the bark. Sixty-two examples of it were taken. Its larva is probably 

 a borer in the poplar. 



Collections m the Adirondack Region in 1885. 



[From the Report of the Entomologist to the Regents of the University for 1885. 

 Published in the Thirth-ninth Annual Report of the New York State Museum of 

 Natural History.] 



About three weeks in the month of August were devoted to 

 collections in the Adirondack region, at Long lake, in the northern 

 part of Hamilton county, N. Y. The altitude of the lake is 1,632 feet 

 above tide. This elevation is too great to admit of an abundance of 

 insect life, while it fails to reward the collector with the rare forms 

 which are to be met with at higher elevations — at and above 2,500 

 feet. 



Very little is known, as yet, of the insect fauna of this interest- 

 ing portion of our State. As I have previously written, "The 

 enthusiasm of the entomologists of an adjoining State has led them 

 to explorations of a peculiarly interesting field l^ng beyond the 

 limits of their own State — the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

 For successive years the members of the Cambridge Entomological 

 Club have established a midsummer encampment upon the slope of 



*The guides of this region have a familiar saying, that "the black-fly doesn't bite 

 after it has put on its white stockings," referring to the white bands upon its legs. 

 Probably this is a different species and more blood-thirsty than the form that abounds 

 earlier in the season and not thus marked. Unfortunately, the black-flies of the 

 Adirondacks have not been studied, and Simulium molestum is only a manuscript name. 



