THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 251 



the base of the fungus : often so close to the bark of the tree as to escape 

 notice. It gives ingress to a number of bark insects, and these visitors, 

 it may readily be believed, pl^y an important part in the dissemination of 

 the spores and the propagation of this fungus, carrying the fructifying 

 germs in their wanderings from the storehouse of the fungus into direct 

 contact with the inner layers of the bark in which the mycelium lives and 

 thrives. Other insects gaining an entrance by the same opening feed 

 upon the substance of the fungus, and in process of time entirely disinteg- 

 rate and destroy it, but probably in the process of destruction assist or 

 hasten the ripening of the spores. If the full history of this fungus and 

 its insect fauna could be written, many facts of great inteiest would 

 undoubtedy be evolved, and it could perhaps be shown that we have 

 in this cryptogam a peculiar structure adapted to the dissemination of the 

 spores by insect agency, and analogous to the contrivances found in many 

 flowering plants for the ensuring of cross-fertilization, or the economical 

 distribution of pollen. Unfortunately, our acquaintance with this little 

 cosmos is limited to a few desultory observations made in the field during 

 a collecting trip to the northwest coast and the mountains of British 

 Columbia, along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, during the 

 months of May and June of the present year. Some of the insects 

 observed are new to science or remain undetermined, and imagos were 

 not bred from the larvae found in the fungus. My present purpose in 

 presenting these incomplete and imperfect notes is to call attention to an 

 interesting association of insects that will well repay further study, and to 

 stimulate further researches into the study of the inter-dependence of 

 insects and fungi. 



An entomologist accustomed to collect insects in our eastern woods 

 will remark with surprise the comparative poverty of the bark fauna in the 

 magnificent forests of the Pacific Coast. This is due partly to the thin- 

 ness and tightness of the bark in many western conifers, and partly to the 

 humidity of the climate, which favours the rapid growth of fungi, and these 

 in fallen trunks quickly cement the bark to the wood. It is comparatively 

 rare to find in these forests a log from which large pieces of bark can be 

 readily removed, and which therefore swarms with bark insects as do logs 

 of oak, elm and pine in the East. The bark insects of that region must 

 find a welcome and often a timely refuge in the dark cavity of the 

 Cryptoporous fungus, and as the plant is abundant on the tree trunks 

 throughout extensive districts that have been overrun by fire, it may 



