(' 
sai 
d drl 
fts), 
mi also 
of 
the 
hill 
v\ liicl 
stands 
roll 
Qg 
hills) 
. the 
Blis 
sua 
Ishin 
1 - in 
der the 
an 
I o 
ily II 
ten w 
hi ii the 
i full t 
irce. 
\\ 'in 
ii there 
or ! 
mg 
w lng< 
Ml ill.l 
[viduals 
Q ge< 
I ex 
amp] 
is, as 
soon .-is 
iear 
id 
ii on 
Ler ii 
a1 thej 
BABITS OF INK EUROPEAN BLISSUS hoi; i.e. S,~) 
n t fi i here, and is met with not only on the '* Flugsandi 
in the hilly regions (e. g., on the southern exposure 
between Duka and Szod, in the midsl of bluffs or 
specimens were to be found only on the very sm.-iil " i 
poplars. Bui hero nlso i hoy were found bu1 rarely. 
transformation from the pupa to adull stage was ii 
were no aiore pupae to be round, then nlso the search f< 
w as in vain. 
This appearance I explain in this way: Thai the wi 
they were able to By, quickly flew away and disap] 
mighl serve as progenitors for now colonies. 
Bui the place of discovery has since been transformed into an immense vine 
yard by the Government, whereby grass, poplars, and nlso /;. doria had to disap- 
pear from thence. For four years l have, though seeking with the greatesl 
diligence, been unable to gel track of the winged specimens anywhere in this 
region, even though I know of a number of colonics of this species upon my own 
premises. While formerly I captured a few specimens each year and gave them 
partly to museums and partly to entomologists, I scarcely hope to attain such 
interesting finds in the future. >i 
The difference just mentioned between those individuals capable of flighl and 
those not capable of flighl in our species and also in the transatlantic species 
can hardly be accidental, but may be soughl for in the influences of environment. 
Next there crowds to the front the fact that in North America /». leucopU rus is 
continually subjected to the attack of its deadly fungus parasite toa high degree, 
and its colonies die out as soon as rainy, moist atmosphere prevails. Conse- 
quently, the Blissus species living there must always hunt new habitats and be 
wandering continually to far distant localities. For this wings are of course 
necessary, and only by means of these is the species enabled to sustain itself at 
such a high grade of importance that it can. now here, now there, become a veri- 
table plague to agriculture. 
With our European species it seems, on the contrary, in regard to many 
points to he otherwise; for. while her habits in the main are similar to those of 
her sister across the sea. yet there are found many important differences in 
their environment. 
Blissus doria never congregates in such close masses as we read of in the 
American reports. It forms only insect islands, and even individual families 
seem to scatter out to some distance. In the steppes, moreover, the growth of 
grass is not matted, hut stands in isolated hunches on the partially hare ground 
the hunches being not infrequently separated by several paces. 
our species will not go into cultivated fields. I have never found even a 
single specimen among forage plants that have been sown, and already this 
condition is one of the reasons why the European species does no1 cluster 
together in such uninterrupted musses. 
If. then, this is true the attacks of entomogenous fungi will hardly he able to 
create such havoc in Ii. dorin as it does among />. leucopterus in America. 
I have nlso during eighteen years never observed a wholesale dying off in the 
localities of occurrence known to me. The fungus - s '. globuliferum has perhaps 
never attacked it. and even though the European form were susceptible to 
similar pestilences, yet it is always hardly to he doubted that the fungus in the 
European homes ,,f /;. doriw would not find favorable circumstances in that 
here during the period of development of this species in normal years great 
drought prevails. Rains lasting for a number of days, with continued moisl 
ami warm atmosphere, belong, with us. among the rarities, especially during 
