394 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

394 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

populous,a singleone_containing

between

₇₀

and

100 specimens, but the males appear^to be just as rare as in Xyleborus.

Inone instanceanother borer in

Phoradendron

_twigs

was met

with, viz., a Bostrychid ^larva. This

was

bred

and

_produced a

somewhat

_crippled

specimen

^of an undescribed _{species of}

Am-

phicerus.

The

_species

was

not

met

with elsewhere in Arizona, butis probably not peculiar ^to the mistletoe.

The

Californian Psyllid mentioned above

was

not observed at anyplace ^visited

by me

inArizona, but^a Lycaenid^larva

was

not rare feeding

on

the leavesof Phoradendron. Several imagoes

were

_bred,

and

Dr.

Dyar

^{determinedthe}

^same

^{as Theclahalesus.}

Mr.

Dyar

^{stated that the} published ^records

show

the food plant ofthis Thecla larvatobe oak.

This

he thought probably

was

a mistake

and

mistletoe is its true food.

Mr. Ashmead

said that the liveoaks in the_city of Jacksonville, ^{Fla.^}

were

covered with mistletoe,especially ^atthe _tops.

He

has seena scale insect

and

an

Aphid ^on

^{themistletoe,buthasnever}

^worked

^eitherof

^them

up.

Mr.

Pollardasked

whether

_anyinsects

were known

tofeed

up on

the Spanish

moss

(Tillandsia) ⁱⁿ the South. Messrs.

Ash- mead and Schwarz

_replied that this

moss

^is full of _insects, but theythought^thatnoneof

them

feed

upon

^it,although Mr.

Schwarz

stated that

Monocrepidius

vcspcrtinus^{eats the leaves occasion}

ally.

Mr.

Morrisstated that in the

moss

used in packing he

had

seen abreaking^or eating of the ripened pods, but

was

not sure thatit

was

caused

by

^insects.

Mr. Schwarz

read thefollowing^{letterwritten} by

Mr. Hubbard

in 1894, on thefauna of Florida caves^:

INSECT LIFE IN FLORIDA CAVES.

By ^H.

^G.

^HUBBARD.

CRESCENT _CITY?

FLA.,

July

31, 1894.

Ifound so

much

^todo atEustiswith

Webber and Swingle

^that

I spent four or ^five days with

them

in the laboratory. Just^{as I}

was

thinking of leavingthem, Mr.

Swingle

^{received a letterfrom} an old-timeguide ^of his telling about

some

large caves ⁱⁿ Her-

nando and

Citrus counties.

As

_{they are only 30}or 40 ^mileswest of Eustis,

we

concluded tovisit

them and

explore, but

we

found

much

trouble ingetting ^there.

However, we

reached Istachatta on the Withlacoochie river aftera _{night's traveling.}

We

found here extensive but shallow and

muddy

^{caves. I should} sayabout

OF WASHINGTON. 395

100 acres _entirely cavernous caves all connected

by

^a

network

ofsmall_galleries

and

rat holes,withoccasionalairholestosurface

and some

fair-sized

chambers

filledwith bat guano.

Had

^to

crawl about

on

hands

and

knees over

mud _composed

of red ochre,

and

got well plastered

and

_painted red like Indians.

We

three

were

four hours in one cave

and

lost our

way,

^so

had

to look around for another opening. Fortunately

we

found one _justas our candles

were

_giving out

and came _up

to daylight through ^a very ^small

chimney

^about 500 yards

from where we went

in.

Found

almost nothing but^{bats inthis} cave no insectsexcept ^a

Podura and

a small dark cricket.

Next

_day

we went

across the country, 8 or9 ^{miles in}

wagon,

to

Double Hammock

_country,in Citrus County,

and

foundavery

much

larger cavern, 75 ^to 100feetdeep, in hillside in

open

pine woods.

Chambers

in this cave

were

_{verylarge, 150} ^feet_long

by

40 ^feet wide,

and

20_{or 25} feet high.

Chambers were

^all_very

much

_deeper,but lower _{portion of} all of

them was

filled with clear, cold water.

Had much

^{trouble to} _get

around

in the cave because of the water.

There was much

loose

and

^fallenrock, so that

we _managed

to get over thedeep places

by

climbing

from

rock torock or

by

clinging ^to the sidewalls. In thewater

were

white crawfish very

much

like those inthe

Mammoth

_{Cave, but}

we saw no

fish.

Got

a

good

^lotof the crawfish, mostly^small specimens, but one^or

two

_{big onesas large}as

Cambarus

bartoni.

The

creature has_eyes, but _{they are}without

pigment and

entirely sightless.

In this cave there

was _{no mud,}

_{only white phospatic} rocks

full offossil

echinoderms and

Crustacea. In

some

of the larger chambers, however, ^there

were

tons of batguano.

The

bats

were

alsopresent ^{in tons'}weight clinging^to the roof

and

_flying about, ^to our _great

annoyance and

danger, ^since they constantly put^out our _lights with their wings.

These

bats proved^to be very interesting, however,^as they

were

infested with parasites in millions ofspecimens. Beside the ordinary ^{small mites}

on

the

wing membranes,

they

were

attacked

by

^a

winged Hippoboscid

fly (Trichobius

major} which

hovered aboutthe clustered bats

and

ran over the walls of the cave,

and

a wingless Nycteribid fly

which

_rarelyleftthebats. In theneighborhoodof the bat rookeries the walls

were

blackwith the puparia deposited

by

^theTricho bius females,

and

once or twice

we

_captured a pair of these

winged

^flies clinging together ⁱⁿ copulation. ^I took

some

puparia ^that

had

notdisclosed,ⁱⁿ a dry^vial,

and

one of

them

has produced ^the imago.

The

freshly fallen

dung

^{of the bats}

was

coveredwith such multitudes ofAcari thatits color

was changed from

jet black to chestnutbrown.

The

_living mites

formed

a layer of an inch thick;, a moving, struggling

mass

_through

which we

had to

396 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

wallow and

often crawl on hands

and

knees.

When we

dis turbed the pendant masses of chattering^bats, they disentangled themselves

and

flew

away

^into deeper recesses of the cave, leav ingbehind

them

such

swarms

of the

winged

parasites that

we were

almostsuffocated by them,

and

as they sought^{a shelter in} our _hair,beards,

and

even our eyebrows,^the nuisance_quicklybe

came

intolerable, so that

we

_{had always}^{to beat a} _hasty ^retreat

into

some

lessinfested

passageway

^until quiet

was

_againrestored.

There was

also about the bat chambers, apparentlyliving ⁱⁿ or aboutthe

dung

^{of the bats, a}

number

of otherflies, one of

which was

_apparently rare and_equal in sizeto a blue-bottle _fly. It _is,

however, _{a hairy}

Muscid which

looks unfamiliar to me.

More numerous by

^{far is a} minute black _gnat.

On

thewalls in the firstlargechamber,₇₅feet

below

the

mouth

of the cave,

we

found a few specimens of a very large mite, quite like a small tick

and

_evidentlyan interesting cave _species. It is

whitewith _paleevanescent

markings on

^the

dorsum, and

^is_quite

flat and tick-like in form.

We

found it hiding cleverly ⁱⁿ small but deeppits in thewhite marlywalls of the cave, remotefrom the batroosts.

There were

of coursea

number

of_spiders.

One

isa large crepuscular species quite^likethosefoundin small

Ken

tucky ^caves.

There

are, however,

some

small colorless species belongingevidently^totruecave_genera,and resembling Authrobia.

Scolopenders

were

conspicuous

by

^their absence except ^{at the}

mouth

of the cave,

and

there

were no

crickets found.

A

^small

pale-red cockroach does not

seem

to be

common, ^and

^isappar entlynotremarkable.

A

minute

Hemipteron was

^not

uncommon on

the surface of thewater in pools deep within ^the cavern

My

specimens^{all look like}

immature and

_very

young

skippers, but certainlydo not belong ^to any

common

forms above ground.

They

^{are dark colored,}

^and

^evidentlyclosely allied ^to the small

Hemiptera

^{found on the} surface of springs

and

_pools in shaded

forests.

We ^were

so

much

interested in thiscavethat

we

_gave

two

_days

to its examination.

A

_log farm house near by ^{sheltered us at} night, and

we had

_{pot luck} with the hospitable cracker

whose

farm adjoined thecavernous _region.

Webber and Swingle made

a notable collection of

moulds and

cave_fungi, andI salted

down

a

good

^{series of} articulates.

The

cave

we

have

named

the

Gum

Tree

_cavern,from_{a large}sweet

gum

^tree

which grows

^onth-jverge of the sinkholeatthe entrance. Itis situated in thesouthwestern corner of CitrusCounty,

and

about 8 milesfrom Floral City, on the S. S.

O. &

G. Railroad.

The

rocks here are^all phosphatic, andtheentire region ^is dotted over with phosphatic mines ^{in ac} tive operation.