4 BULLETIN 619, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Diptera, found in 50 stomachs and forming the sole contents of 7, 
stand next in the food of the martin. Eaten in every month in which 
stomachs were taken, they amount to 16.09 per cent of the food. 
They consisted largely of .the long-legged tipulids, better known as 
daddy longlegs, whose larvae are destructive to the roots of grass. 
Besides these, many of the Muscidae, the f amity of the common house 
fly, were eaten, and a few specimens of robberflies (Asilidse) were 
found. The latter are predacious insects and are said to be very de- 
structive to bees. 
Hemiptera, found in 70 stomachs, amount to 14.58 per cent of the 
food. They belong to several families, among the most abundant 
of which are the Pentatomidse (stinkbugs), the Membracidee (tree 
hoppers), and the Thyreocoridae (negro bugs). The notorious 
squash bug (Aoiasa tristis) was found in 1 stomach. One stomach 
contained 26 specimens of Nezava Mlaris, a pentatomid ; others con- 
tained, respectively, 27, 25, 11, and 8 individuals of Myodocha ser- 
ripes; and several others a less number. This shows how freely these 
bugs are eaten by the martin. Leptoglossus oppositus and Metapo- 
dvus femoratm, large bugs that do much damage to plants and fruit, 
were found in two stomachs. 
Coleoptera, the insects next in order of abundance, amount to 12.53 
per cent of the food. Of these, 1.28 per cent were useful beetles, 
mostly Carabidae, or ground beetles, with a few tiger beetles. The 
remainder belong to more or less harmful species. The Scarabaeidae, 
or May-beetle family (5.21 per cent), were found in 47 stomachs and 
are apparently the favorites. Many of them were small dung beetles 
(Aphodius), which hover over cow droppings in the early evening 
and so are easily captured by martins. One stomach contained 75 
individuals of a single species, and another 35. Some of the larger 
flower beetles (Euphoria) also were taken, one form of which E. inda, 
often destructive to fruit, was found in 6 stomachs. One stomach 
contained 100 individuals of another small species of this family 
(Strigoderma pygmcea). 
Among the most interesting beetles found in the stomachs were 
the Ehynchophora, or snout beetles. This group, commonly known 
as weevils, includes some of the most destructive species known. 
The cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) was found in two 
stomachs. The clover weevil (Hypera punctata) was found in 
nine stomachs, one of which contained 20, and others 17, 12, and 9 of 
these destructive insects. Insects of the genus Balanmus, which bore 
into and destroy nuts and large seeds, were found in 14 stomachs. 
The genus Sitona in several of its species is destructive to clover 
and allied plants ; in one martin's stomach were found 53 individuals 
of the species S. hispidula and in another 16; in a third stomach 
were 27 specimens of S. flavescens, also a pest. The strawberry 
