ture and moisture, and sudden changes of heat and cold. The driving storms of wind were very favorable to the wide distribution of insect life; but these winds were generally from the mountains toward the plains, and should have increased the fauna of the latter at the expense of the former.

No living specimens of Cantharis nuttalli were seen, but in Manitou Park a single dead specimen was found beneath a piece of wood.

The

In the mountain-gorges near Clear Creek Cañon and in Beaver Brook Gulch, various kinds of beetles were on wing in the sunshine, flying from the peaks above, and lodging on the sides of rocks, trees, and fallen wood. A few specimens of several species of Cerambycidæ and Buprestidæ were thus procured at the same time with grasshoppers, and beautiful red and steel-blue moths of the group Zygœnidæ. delicate and showy Omoiala vermiculata Grote was met with early in August in full daylight, flying over Clear Creek in the cañon, and also over Beaver Brook. Its flight was languid, but strongly reminded me. of that of Heliconia charetonia Linn. It would sail about for a few minutes, and then lodge upon one of the willows or other bushes projecting over the rapids, and then take flight again, flying and resting at short intervals. At Bijou, a few beetles were taken, of species different from those found at either of the other stations which I visited. Among them Pyrota engelmanni Lec. was the most conspicuous. It was quite common upon the flowers of a Golden-rod, which grew low and bushy. Many pairs were seen and some taken while sexually united, the males being always smaller than the females.

In the same situations, as well as on the smaller sunflowers, Epicauta pensylvanica DG., Nemognatha immaculata Say, and Zonitis atripennis Say were quite common. Most of these insects imbedded themselves in the pollen of the flowers, and flew from one to the other. They carried considerable quantities of the pollen upon their heads and wing. covers, and might readily have aided in the fertilization of those flowers.

A few specimens of Euryomia inda Linn. were buzzing near the ground in the vicinity of the railroad-track, not alighting for more than an instant at a time, and then off again in a tortuous line, as if they were bent upon searching the ground for lost treasure. Flowers of a few species were quite abundant in this region, and, upon every head, a beetle, fly, or wasp was settled, either buried in the mass of stamens and petals, or running rapidly over the surface.

Orthoptera of many kinds were very numerous at this place, particu larly of the Grasshopper tribe. The large, lubberly Brachypeplus magnus Girard was abundant in several of its forms, and in all three of its states of color. It inhabits especially the undulated spots where the grass is taller, and often in the midst of the patches of low sunflowers. Many of the latter plants are no more than a foot in height, while bearing a flower as much as four inches in diameter. Upon one of these a large female of Brachypeplus crawled, and began to eat the petals of

one side. Continuing, it next ate into the mass of green seeds, chewing away with great rapidity; in one minute, it had consumed nearly a square inch, and when I returned to the spot in fifteen minutes, the grasshopper was still clinging to a fragment of the calyx, but every vestige of the flower had disappeared. This species did not occur in countless myriads as others of the grasshoppers; only a few were seen on a spot; at a distance of a few feet there were others, and so, over a surface of an acre, only a few hundreds were to be found.

Not so with the Caloptenus spretus, although in this neighborhood but a few stragglers were to be seen. In the mountains, however, south of Denver, such multitudes were flying that walking or riding was rendered almost unendurable by the continued thumps which one received upon the face. Buried in grasshoppers would have been almost literally true of my condition on the morning of August 16, when I walked from Colorado City to the mountains at Manitou. When I arrived in Denver, on August 4, sporadic examples of this insect were to be seen on the commons in the city and on the plains adjoining. The next day, and for several days afterward, no crowds had appeared in the near vicinity of this place. No swarms were flying over the lower section of the Clear Creek Cañon and gulches during August 6, 7, or 8. In the latter, single individuals would come flying down upon the mountainsides from the higher levels, in company with, or at the same time as, other species, but never in multitudes. Nor were the nymphs of this species to be found in that locality. Of other kinds, chiefly Edipodas, many young ones were hopping about in the paths and roads and in the woods among the rocks. Some of these were but slightly advanced in their larval stage, and were quite small. Others were almost ready to begin their final moult. The grass and Indian corn near Golden was still untouched, and the unusual amount of moisture had helped the crops to put on their healthiest covering of green.

After passing to the west of Pueblo, on the morning of August 10, I began to hear of the depredations of this grasshopper. As the train passed the corn-fields in the valley of the Arkansas, now and then a large field would be observed to have been stripped of its leaves, and in many cases the top would be bent over and broken. Often the stalk with a part of the tassel attached would be seen lying on the ground, where it had fallen after having been gnawed through, or snapped off by the numbers which had alighted on it. But the insects were not there; they had evidently flown off to other places. After arriving at Cañon City, and for the next two days, swarms of these insects were occasionally seen flying from the direction of the mountains. None of them, however, took the trouble to settle near the mountains; all went over, far aloft, and alighted five or more miles east of the city. In the mouth of the cañon of the Arkansas, there was much for them to eat, but only a few could be seen in places where the grass and weeds were dense and high.

Returning on the 12th of August, the valley of the Arkansas as far as Pueblo (how much farther I do not know) presented a scene of sad desolation. At all the lower levels, the floods had completed the destruction which the grasshoppers had partly effected, and left the farms with not one growing stalk, where a few days before broad tracts were covered with luxuriant crops. Perhaps half a dozen fields, chiefly a little higher and farther back from the river, were untouched; but nearly all the others within sight had been totally destroyed.

Arriving at Colorado Springs on the afternoon of this day, no indicatious of their ravages were to be seen. A few specimens could be noticed here and there, hopping about in the grass, and adjacent to the water-courses somewhat larger numbers were set in motion by the sweeping of my net. No complaint was being made of noticeable damage being done by them in this section, and no remark was heard relative to their appearance. The next day, at Manitou, they were seen hopping in great numbers, but no swarms were alighting from the air.

Ascending the mountains in the Ute Pass on the following day, the rocks in many places were observed to be almost covered with them, and their continued headlong descent from the elevated points above caused them to dash headlong against the faces and eyes of the drivers and horses, to the great discomfort of both. After reaching the Divide, they had ceased to be troublesome, and no more than single examples were met with on the mountains and in Manitou Park. In the mean time, heavy local showers of rain drenched the peaks and poured in floods through the gulches, drowning the insects or washing them away. Perhaps for that reason the grasshoppers had generally disappeared from the mountains when I returned through the Ute Pass. But a different scene presented itself when I arrived at Colorado City: the air was filled with the buzz of wings; the ground was everywhere covered with a leaping, struggling mass of grasshoppers. In some places, they were piled up several inches deep. Fresh hordes were continually arriving from the mountains. A dusky spot, several acres in extent, might be seen in the air high up, and in a few seconds the surface of the ground received new additions to the already countless numbers. Strangely enough, they were not universally distributed. Only a few localities west of the railroad were overrun by them, and several of these were covered with a luxuriant growth of weeds and wild flowers. Some of the corn-fields were not attacked, although only a few rods from the spots upon which they lodged. A few smaller swarms left the places upon which they first alighted, and flew off toward the southeast. Evidently, they were preparing to continue the species. Many of the males were chasing the females, and a few had already united in sexual intercourse. As my time for remaining in this vicinity was all exhausted at noon of the 17th of August, I did not have the opportunity to see many of them in the act of depositing their eggs; and during the next two days, which were spent near Denver, no swarms of the species appeared. Small numbers of

them were to be met with in the grass and tall weeds, but they showed no disposition to assemble or to fly in the air. In the region near Colorado Springs, their insect enemies were quite numerous. The Tachina and another kind of fly were observed in many instances balancing over a grasshopper that was trying to crouch in the thickest of the weeds and grass or to dodge sideways at each attempt of its enemy to reach it with her ovipositor. Immense numbers of the grasshoppers were lying dead upon the ground, perhaps crushed by the masses of their fellows that had crowded above them. The prodigious rapidity with which they sometimes strike the ground must cause the destruction of considerable numbers of them. Besides this, the local storms which arise from the mountain-region around Pike's Peak catch some of the swarms and dash them suddenly toward the surface and against the hill-sides. At this place also, the females were much more numerous than the males, and, in the cases that I was able to count them, the former were ten times as numerous as the latter. Several other forms of Calopteni also belong to the hills and depressio ns of the surface west of Colorado City, and still other species inhabit the various kinds of soils near Cañon City. Calop tenus bivittatus Say was moderately abundant near Denver, near Colorado Springs, and in the valley of the Arkansas. Edipoda carolina Linn. was on the plains wherever I went.

Crickets were quite uncommon. Beneath stones and sticks near Col· orado City, and in the mouth of the cañon of the Arkansas, a few specimens were found; but those from the first-named place were only half grown. A single specimen only was met with near Denver, and that one had taken shelter beneath rubbish in a garden. Xiphidium was very common in shrubby spots near the Platte River adjoining Denver; and Ecanthus was numerous at Colorado City and in the valley of the Arkansas.

Neuroptera and Pseudoneuroptera were seen in every locality, but my time was too limited to permit me to use it in chasing them. The few that I captured were usually such as flew near me, or settled upon the bushes and trees close by. On the dry sandy parts of the plains, two species of Myrmeleon were frequently around as I swept my net through the taller grass or flowers and weeds. In Clear Creek Cañon, Æschna of two species, a Gomphus, and two kinds of Agrion, occurred at occasional intervals between the ridges of the mountains. Diplax semicincta Say was present in large numbers upon a wet spot of ground west of Denver. Not being a very wild species, it was readily captured, and I was thus able to procure a fair series of them in their several varieties. Hemerobius was taken in Clear Creek Cañon; and, in the same place, as well as at Denver, a species of Chrysopa was quite common. Chloroperla was abundant in the mouth of Arkansas Cañon. Diplax rubicundula Say was noticed at various points on the railroad leading through Kansas, chiefly on wet spots upon the farms. In the same or similar localities, I noticed Libellula pulchella Drury, L. basalis Say, quite

numerous, and Mesothemis longipennis Burm. Several kinds of Gomphina and Eschna were also seen, but they could not be captured, and the species could not be recognized.

Diptera were very numerous everywhere, but a little less so in the cañons. Wherever flowers were in bloom, specimens were found resting upon or flying about them. Bombylius, Anthrax, and Asilida were seen in every locality; but on the sandy plains, where plants were numerous, they were astonishingly frequent. The colors and forms of most of these were quite attractive, and strongly set in relief by the green color of the plants; they added much to the lively effect of the scene. Some of the species did not extend south of Colorado Springs, while others were seen only in Clear Creek Cañon.

The beautiful Ospriocerus æacus Wied. was met with singly in a few places south of the divide, but near Denver it was replaced by an Asilus, having a dull brown thorax, with four curving pale lines on the dorsum, with smoke-brown wings and short, slender, tapering antennæ, and with narrower wings than the preceding. Both of these forms are very attractive, and strongly resemble Midas, as well in their manner of flight as in the scarlet abdomen with red base and tip. When in repose, the red color of the body is concealed by the wings, but when flying it is very conspicuous and in strong contrast with all of its surroundings. I was much struck by the method which the former sometimes adopts to conceal itself from a pursuer. On a hill-side not far from Colorado Springs, I started a specimen while using my sweeping-net. At first, it rose three or four feet in the air, and then flew off with rather heavy but direct flight toward the thick patches of weeds and grass. As I noticed where it lodged and followed closely, it again rose and flew off to a distance of somewhat more than a rod. After repeating this three times, and finding itself still pursued, it flew to a lot of scattered stones, some of which were of a dark granitic rock, mixed largely with crystals of reddish felspar, and settled upon a dark spot of one of the pieces, which so well accorded with its color that only with great difficulty could I detect it.

Lordotus gibbus Loew was quite rare, being seen in only two or three places near Colorado Springs. The beautiful golden fur which covered its whole body shone with high luster in the sunlight, and foiled the yellow color of the sunflowers upon which it settled. A very beautiful Mallophora, coated with bright, silky, yellow plush, occurred sparingly in Beaver Brook Gulch. It was very fond of resting upon the rocks jutting over the road leading up the mountain. As disturbed by persons passing over the road, it would fly from rock to rock, and, when chased for the distance of a few rods, would fly off at a tangent, and return to the rock from which it first started.

A Stenopogon, allied to, if not identical with, S. fasciatus Say, was quite common upon sandy spots near Denver, and in Cañon City upon the banks of the Arkansas River. The places on which it settled corre