The St. Joseph River runs nearly diagonally through the township of Constantine, from N. E. to S. W. A small affluent, called Fawn River, empties into it at the point where the town itself is located.

The characteristic vegetation along the banks of the main river above town is beech, maple, elm, iron-wood, walnut, butternut, papaw, magnolia (or a tree very nearly allied), spice-bush, prickly-ash, sumach, witch-hazel, wild grape, ash, oak and hickory, with many quite rare and beautiful wild flowers, such as are found in rich and favorable places. But that of the affluent region is almost entirely oak and hickory (mostly oak), with hazel, sumach, a few poplars, willows, and in some places cedars, but with few wild flowers of any account. The cedars are also found upon the main river, both above and below town. This difference in vegetation is probably due to a difference in the nature of the soil, the lower and richer soil of parts of the main river producing a richer and more varied flora than the higher and poorer parts adjoining the affluent.

The following species were collected, from 29th March to 21st June, 1884, along the thirtieth parallel in two neighborhoods, New Orleans and environs, and a district on Bayou la Fourche extending from a little above Napoleonville a few miles south along the bayou. The latter is in Assumption Parish, and at the time of my visit was partially overflowed from the great crevasse of March, 1884. Though many of the species here given are well known to occur in the South Louisiana fauna, I give them all just as I collected them, with the view of noting their relative abundance or rarity, dates of occurrence, localities, etc., all of which together may contribute to make our knowledge of the fauna more complete. But it must be remembered that this is merely a record of how the species occurred to me during my stay, in which I collected only a small part of what might have been taken, could I have given my entire attention thereto. Nearly all those of the N. O. neighborhood were taken between the city and Lake Pontchartrain.

The proportion of the sexes in insects often throws much light upon the habits and appearance of the species. Having had good opportunity to make observations of this kind ttpon Cicindela vulgaris Say, in collecting a large number of the beetles, I have made out the appended table, which will explain itself. The dates I give, as they will show how the sexual proportion varies at different times of the season. From my observations it would seem that when the insects first appear in spring the females are much the more numerous; but that when they first appear in fall the males outnumber the females as two to one. I have taken this species here from 3rd March (1882) to 25th October (1884).

For several seasons past, along in the latter part of summer (August and September) I have noticed certain peculiar actions on the part of the large flying locust, Œdipoda carolina Linn. I have always suspected that these actions have something to do with the union of the sexes. In the warm parts of the days at this time of the year individuals of this species may frequently be seen rising from the ground, and, hovering several feet in the air, rapidly vibrating their wings and making a peculiar flapping or beating sound, the while keeping nearly the same relative position in space. Although my notes on this subject are rather imperfect, I think they may be of use. I can not find that the subject has ever been touched upon before; such may be the case, but I have not been able to discover record of it in any reports, periodicals or works on insects. Still these actions must have been noticed by observers, as they are of common occurrence.

The following are some notes on a dozen of the more interesting species of Staphylinidœ which I have found in this vicinity. Two of the species, which will be duly given, were determined by M. Fauvel. All the others were identified by Dr. Horn.

Falagria dissecta Er. Numbers of this almost minute species were taken 8 Oct., 1884, in, on and under decaying and rain-soaked fragments of a large, reddish-tinged fungus growth, which I had previously plucked and broken to pieces to obtain Phenolia grossa Fab.

Now that we have been supplied by Mr. Uhler with a list of the Hemiptera Heteroptera of North America, which has been much needed, it will be interesting to know more about the geographical distribution of the species. The following list is short, but will nevertheless add to our knowledge of these insects. The species were collected at the same time and in the same localities with the Coleoptera given in my list (Can. Entom., xvii., p. 66–73), and the preliminary notes there given apply also here. The species were kindly determined for me by Mr' Uhler.

Having examined a good number of dead trunks of the basswood or American linden, Tilia Americana L., here this fall, I have found quite a list of Coleoptera in them either under the bark or in the decayed wood. The following is the list, which embraces thirty-four species taken from 13th October to 3rd November, 1885. Some of the species are only of accidental occurrence in the trunks, but will be readily known, and are given to record them from this locality. The determinations are mostly by Dr. Horn:—

Tachys flavicauda Gyll. Colonies or scattered individuals mixed with colonies of Silvanus planatus Germ., or by themselves, under the bark of the less decayed trunks.

In this species of the genus Cicindela there are several very marked varieties, differing in the number, size and, manner of disposing of the markings on the elytra; while other less marked, yet distinct forms, coming between the more marked ones, constantly occur. Being struck with the considerable differences between the specimens I have collected of this species, it occurred to me that my observations on the subject might be of interest to some others; and with that view I give them.

In the Oct. number of this journal I noticed with interest the article by Mr. Clarkson on Elaphidion villosum, Fabr. I have reason to believe that the same is partly the case also with E. parallelum, Newm., which I find to be the common oak-pruner here. But I do not agree that it is always, or even in the majority of instances, the case with either species.

Having been away from home the greater part of the summer, I regret that I have not been able to collect some of these beautiful beetles this season, so as to further observe the interesting relation between the varieties in number, as I should like to have done. I hope, however, that some one has made observations upon them, and will favor us with an account, which would, no doubt, be very acceptable to those interested in the genus.

Since contributing the first notes upon this subject, I have noticed that Say has described two varieties of C. sex-guttata in his monograph of the genus Cicindela, commencing on page 415, vol. ii., of the American Entomology, edited by LeConte. The first is.

In the summer of 1884, while collecting the green tiger-beetles in the woods, it struck me very forcibly how the Cicindelæ that inhabit such places—sexguttata Fab. here, campestris Linn. in England, others elsewhere—are for the most part of a beautiful green, so as to assimilate in color with the surrounding vegetation and herbage among which they may alight; while those that frequent the bare ground, banks, sand hills, sandy stretches, beaches, bars—vulgaris Say, repanda Dej., maritima Dej., and many others—are of the colors easily assimilative with those that surround them on the flats and stretches where they are found.

The common species of Acmaeodera, A. pulchella Hbst., which is marked with shining bronze-black and bright yellow, assimilates well in color with the flowers of Rudbeckia hirta L., so abundant along the edges of cultivated fields, upon which this Buprestid is found. The dark parts of the beetle, which are after an etched pattern, blend well with the rich dark stigmata of the flower, as the beetle lies next to these; while the bright yellow parts easily pass unnoticed in the inside border of the yellow corolla. It is noticeable that these flower-frequenting species are found chiefly on the flowers whose colors suit them best for protection; in fact the insects seem to have been modified in color to suit the flowers they live on. This species is seldom found upon any other flowers than those of Rudbeckia hirta L. I have once taken it upon the flowers of tansy, once upon a partially yellowed leaf of Œnothera, once upon a high dandelion flower, twice upon the orange-red flowers of Asclepias tuberosa L., and once flying about some of the many flower-bunches of a clump of sumachs. These are the only exceptions that I have noticed, and are but isolated instances.

On 19th October, 1884, I took from a decaying hickory stump a specimen of Alaus oculatus (Linn.), which had its left elytron .75 mm. shorter than its right. This seemed to me a curious and very noticeable deformity, and one I had never before observed. But on 13th December ensuing I discovered that a fine, robust specimen which I had taken from decaying hickory the day previous had its left elytron .25 mm. shorter than its right, this time the difference being much less, but still noticeable. I then examined fifteen other specimens of this species in my collection, with the following result: One with left elytron .25 mm. shorter than right; one with left .20 mm. shorter than right; one with left shorter than right, but the difference hardly appreciable; one (small specimen) with right .20 mm. shorter than left; and one in which the right was so slightly less than the left that the difference could scarcely be seen. The remaining ten showed no appreciable differences in this respect.

This work examines the adhesion of coatings derived from divinylsiloxane bisbenzocyclobutene, mixed stereo and positional isomers of 1,3-bis(2-bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-3-ylethenyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl disiloxane (CAS 117732–87–3), on oxidized silicon substrates treated with silane coupling agents.This material, commercially available as Cyclotene™ 3022, can be used in the construction of high performance electronic circuits, such as multichip modules. Silane coupling agents examined in this study were 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (CAS 01760-24-3)(APTES)(, vinyltriethoxysilane (CAS 00078–08–0)(VTES), and 3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (CAS 02530–85–0) (MOP-TMS).

Measurement of the interfacial adhesion was performed using microindentation. Bond strengths obtained by this method exceed 200 MPa for the most effective coupling agents. However, these high bond strengths were not found to correlate with acceptable adhesive performance in all cases. In addition to the choice and preparation of the coupling agent, process related chemical exposure has been found to be a key element in the observed adhesive performance. The effect of the cure schedule for the thermoset coating has also been found to be a controlling factor. A short cycle test vehicle was developed consisting of a single 20 gIm polymer layer etched with anisotropic sidewalls. This test vehicle was used to evaluate the efficacy of the coupling agents during process exposures and subsequent thermal shock testing. A solution of MOP-TMS pre-hydrolyzed in methanol was found to produce the most reliable interface with high bond strength.

This paper discusses the nonhermetic performance of polymer thin film coatings derived from 1,3-bis(2-bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-3-ylethenyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl disiloxane (mixed isomers, CAS 117732-87-3), known also as divinyl siloxane bis-benzocyclobutene or DVS bis-BCB. The stability of the dielectric constant and the mechanical properties have been examined before and during high temperature exposures of the polymer films to air for extended periods of time at high and low humidity. Infrared absorbance spectra and dielectric constant measurements have been correlated.

Formulations of the DVS bis-BCB prepolymer with a polymeric oxidation inhibitor are predicted to yield polymer films which display less than a 10% change in the dielectric constant after 40 years in air at 85°C. These films have excellent potential for use as the dielectric coating layer in nonhermetic packaging applications for Multi Chip Module (MCM) circuits.