C. A. Frost.
Remarks on Collecting at Light, With a List of the Coleoptera Taken.
Psyche 22(6):207-211, 1915.

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19151 Frost-Remarks on Collecting at Light 207 REMARKS ON COLLECTING AT LIGHT, WITH A LIST OF THE COLEOPTERA TAmN.
BY C. L4. FROST,
Framingham, Mass.
After I had settled in South Framingham, it was not long before I discovered that I had selected a favorable room for my "bug- den," since moths and other insects soon began to visit me by way of the windows while at work on my collection during the summer evenings.
The house is so situated that from mj7 room, an attic one on the third floor, one looks out over gardens, yards, and shade trees, toward the west. It was formerly shaded by several European spruces and a large elm, but one of the spruces is almost dead and the elm has been cut down at the request of a 'cback-to-the-soil" enthusiast whose crop of weeds has probably furnished me with some fine micro-lepidoptera. The afternoon sun beats in the two windows and, in spite of the closed blinds, renders the room unin- habitable to anyone but a "bug-catching crank" long after the sun has set. The insinuations in regard to my mental condition become more emphatic as the summer progresses and the heat drives the rest of the household to the piazza, while I insist on retiring to my room for the e\-elling collecting. The heat caused me much trouble with my point mounting so that I discontinued the use of shellac for some time and adopted an English cement which sets very quickly and does not soften. I ha1-e since con- cluded that it was a poor quality of shellac which softened with the heat and allowed the insects to drop off or twist about. When I returned from a vacation trip to Colorado after the extremely hot period of July, 1911, to find my new boxes stuck together and a penholder more than half buried in a cake of paraffine on my table1 was mighty glad I went. Dozens of my shellac-mounted specimens have had to be remounted as a result of that summer's heat.
The town has grown very rapidly since I came here in 1904 and is now an embryo city with houses springing up on every vacant lot, so that I suspect a falling off in the number of specimens that



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208 Psyche [December
come to my light.
I have used an ordinary kerosene lamp with a reflector, sometimes turned to throw the light out of the window, but more often to reflect onto my work; and the insects seem to come in just as readily. I have also tried setting the lamp on a chair before the window with a sheet of glazed paper hanging over the back behind the lamp, with some success. Nothing comes to light on moonlight evenings and a dark, muggy night is, of course, the best. I have taken many Lepidoptera during a pouring rain. The most abundant species of moths belong to the genera Leucania, Hadena, Mamestra, Feltia, and Crambus. Certain Geo- metrid~, as Xanthorhoea jerrugata, Ggpsochroa designata, and Hgdriomena multiferata, have been common in the past but they have almost disappeared during the last few years. It is a matter of much regret that I have not kept a complete record of the many species of Lepidoptera taken on the table and the walls of my room. Many of the species immediately hide behind the boxes and in obscure nooks and appear next morning on the screens or between the curtain and the glass of the windows. Others are never seen until picked up dead on the floor. Nearly all the specimens fly about the light for a time and then, especially the micros? settle down on the table or fly to the ceiling to remain until disturbed. A favorite resting place lor the species of Hadena and Leucania is the dark varnished door to the hall, perhaps on account of the draft through the crack next the jamb. For some time I used to identify the moths as they came in, and then paper at once or reserve for mounting the next morning, but one evening a robust Hadena entered an open double box of Lepidoptera and quietly remained there until the box was shut up and replaced on the shelf. Some days later on opening the box I found that its work had sufficiently identified it as devastatrix. I have generally collected from dark to midnight but have re- mained as late as 2 a. m. on especially favorable nights, The specimens come intermittently-in bunches best expresses it- and sometimes a dozen specimens will be bumping about the room, then hardly one for half an hour or so. - On some evenings the ceilings will be dotted with hundreds of minute Diptera and Hem- iptera, and yet it is seldom that a mosquito finds its way in. I once counted 94 specimens of small Diptera stuck on a quadrant of the base of the lamp? a total of 376 for the whole base. I thought it a hopeless task to count those on the table.



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19151 F~ost-Remurks on Collecting at Light 209 Late in the summer a species of lace-winged fly (Chrysopu) becomes comnion and 1 was once surprised to receive a sharp bite on the arm from one of these delicate insects. The largest insects that have come in were Telea polyphemus and Prionus poculuris.
The list of Coleoptera is TTery small compared with the species of Lepidoptera that have been taken, but it may be of interest to record them for many of the species (as Macrobasis torsu and Liopus alpha) must ha~~e flown at least a mile from their breeding places into the thickly settled part of the town. Bembidium variegutum Say, July 28, 19 13. *4rnara upricurius
Payk., August 23, 1910.
PlutynusSp? (near moerensDej.), June
29, 1913. Platynus ueruginosus Dej., May 27, 1908. Lebiu atriventris Say, May 28 and June 19, 1908. Lebia viridipennis Dej. June 19, 1908. Lebiu ornutu Say, July 4, 1909. Lebiu sc~pulu~is Dej ., September 4, 1910. Pinucoderu platicollis Say, October 1, 1910. Chluenius pennsylvanicus Say, May 24, 1908. Chluenius tricolor Dej ., May 24, 1908, Hurpalus pennsyluunicus DeG., June 28, 1908; August 13, 1912. Hurpulxs erythropus Dej., July 24, 1911. Stenolophus ochropems Say, May 24 and 27, 1908; May 16, 1909; July 1 and August 4, 1910; July 31, 1911; April 21, 1912; July 28, 1913.
Agonoderus pullipes Fab., July 1,
1907; July 2 and 28, 1913, and many others not recorded. Agono- dews lineolu Fab., May 24, 1908; July 18, 1909. Anisodactylus
terminutus Say, July 28, 1913. Anisodactylus sericeus Harr., May 27, 1908.
Hydrochuris obi usatus Say, July 29, 19 13. Philhydrus ochruceus
Mels., July 28, 1913.
Necrophorus umericanus Oliv., May 31, 1908. Necrophorus orbicollis Say, October 4, 1910.
Agathidium oniscoides Beauv.,
May 27, 1908.
Oxyielus sculptilis Grav., May 24, 1908. Acylonws ergoti Casey, June 8, 1908.
Hippodamiu 13-punctutu L., &August 23,
1912, Aduliu bipunctatu I,., July 7, 1908. Henoticus serrutus Gyll., August 8, 1913.
Luthropus vemalis Lee., July 4, 1908.
Liturgus sexpunctu~us Say, Ju1.y 26, 1912. Typhwu fumutu L.,
May 28, 1908; July 31, 1911; August 21, 1912 (two specimens).



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210 Psyche [December
Cryptarcha umplu Er., June 23, 1904. Melunopthulmus obtusu Lec., April 5, 1910; September 8, 191 1. Melunopthalmus distin- guendu Corn., May 29 and July 4, 1908. Prionocgphon discoideus Say. (?), July 5, 1904.
Entomophthulmus rufiolus Lee., June 28, 1910. Melunotus com-
munis Gyll., May 24, 1908; May 6, 1913. Melunotus trupezoideus Lee., July 15, 1911.
Melunotus sugitturius Lee., May 30, 1908. Limonius basilluris Say, July 15, 191 1. Athous cucullutus Say,
June 27, 1908.
Asuphes rnemnonius Hbst., June 27 and July 4, 1908.
Podabrus tricostatus Say, June 9, 19 10. Podabrus rugulosus Lec., June 27, 1908; June 30, 1910; June 29, 1913. Podabrus busilluris Say, May 29 and 31, 1908; June 4, 1913. Podabrus simplex Coup., May 29, 1908; June 3, 1912. Silis percomis Say, May 23, 1911. Telephorus bilineutus Say, May 25, 1908. Creggu oculutu Say, August 5, 1910 (two specimens). Ernobius
mollis L., May 29, 1908; July 2, 1913.
Lucanus duma Thunb.
Several times, no record at hand.
Trox unistriutus Beauv., August 10, 1907. Trox scuber L., May
29, 1912. Dichelongchu elongutu Fab., June 4, 1912. Dichelonychu albicollis Burm., May 25, 1910. Dichelongchu diluta Fall (?), June 1, 1912. Sericu vespertinu Gyll., June 19, 1908. Sericu sericeu Ill., June 9, 1910. Diplotuxis sordidu Say, July 29, 1913. Diplotuxis utluntis Fall, May 25, 1908. Lachnosternu fuscu Frol., May 19, 1907; May 7, 1910; and many other records. Luchnos- ternu nova Smith, June 22, 1908; May 25, 1910; May 25, 1912. Luchnosternu hirticula Ihoch, May 25 and 29, 1910; one of the most common visitors. Pelidnotu punctutu L., July 17, 1911; August 9, 1912. Liggrus relictus Say, September 7, 1910 and several other records.
Orthosomu brunneum Forst., June 28, 1913. Prionus pocularis Dalm., July 30, 1911.
Criocephalus ugrestis Kirb., July, 1913. Eluphidion villosum Fab., July 18, 1909; May 6, 1913. Xglotrechus
colonus Fab., July 14, 1912.
Monohammus titillator Fab., July 29,
1913. Monohummus conjusor Kirby, July 23, 1913 (male and female). Liopus ulphu Say, July 10, 1909; June 25 and 30, 1913. Gustroideu polygoni L., July 6, 1908.
Diabroticu vittutu Fab.,
August 25, 1910 and many other records. Gulerucella luteolu



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