139 
April, 1887.] history society of Wisconsin. 
found. Later the Carabidce predominate. With the unfolding 
of leaves and flowers the Coccinellidse and Chrysomelidse make 
their appearance. Still later come the Buprestidx and the Lon- 
gicorns. A more or less protracted pause usually marks the 
hottest Dart of the summer and the autumn brings more Longi- 
corns and Carabidx. 
Though I have thus far confined my words solely to the 
Coleoptera, it must not be supposed that other orders of insects 
did not send representatives to the lake beach. Even the dis¬ 
tribution of the Lepidoptera presented something anomalous. 
These too, it seems, though excelling all other insects in flight 
were sometimes carried out into the lake by winds. The com¬ 
mon butterflies were frequently seen lying helplessly on the 
beach with wet wings. Few, if any, could ever again join theii 
inland companions. They fell a prey to Carabids or were 
shriveled up on the hot sand. I remember once finding a num¬ 
ber of females of a species of Argynnis washed up by the waves. 
I have never seen a living female in the county. They must 
exist but they are certainly very rare and the appearance of a 
number of them at once on the lake beach is strange, to say the 
least. The Hemiptera and Hymenoptera were numerously repre¬ 
sented. The largest of our Hemiptera , the huge water-bug, 
Bellostoma , was once so common that I could have filled a peck- 
basket with specimens in walking two miles along the beach 1 
Bees were very common, and, what seems remarkable, a number 
of queen bumble-bees were once found. A few Diptem were 
seen beside those that came to deposit their eggs on decompos¬ 
ing animal matter. Numerous species of the smallei New op- 
tera , which had evidently passed their early life in the water of 
the lake, were frequently observed flitting about the sand. 
The literature on this subject of littoral distribution is very 
scanty. The facts to which I have called your attention have 
not, of course, passed unobserved by others. I am informed 
that a similar distribution obtains at Sheboygan, Wis. The fol 
lowing is taken from Le Conte’s Geology: 
“ In the Miocene of Europe, 1,550 species of insects have 
been found; and of these more than 900 species at Oeningen in 
