THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. "Jo 



slightly larger, bul which proved to be the same species. The infested 

 cones were shrivelled and hard, and their development was entirely 

 arrested. The following year similar observations were made in the same 

 locality, and similar infestations were noted in subsequent seasons. On 

 May 26, 1 901, I examined some white pines not far from the locality 

 where the beetle had been first noticed in 1884, and found that there was 

 a serious infestation of the cones. The ground beneath the trees was 

 strewn with aborted and undeveloped cones, which were compact and 

 hard, about three inches in length, but only one-half inch in diameter. 

 On breaking open any one of these, P. coniperda was apparent and its 

 burrows running through the resinous compacted scales. In one cone I 

 observed a small bright Chalcid, but, unfortunately, it dropped in the grass 

 and was lost, much to my regret, for it was evidently a parasite of the 

 beetle. With the hope of obtaining specimens of the Hymenopteron, I 

 took home some of the cones, but no flies appeared. After it was 

 apparent that there was no probability of any insects emerging, I broke 

 up the cones, which was not an easy matter, owing to their hard, resinous 

 condition, but could find no trace of any of the parasites. Some beetles 

 were obtained (all dead), but many of them were broken in digging them 

 out of their burrows or in tearing apart the cones. As was mentioned in 

 my former note on this species, the beetles remain continually in the 

 cones ; none of them emerged of their own accord. While other members 

 of our Scolytidae may be found flying about, some species in great abun- 

 dance, I have never met with this species at large, although it must be 

 fairly abundant and widely distributed. Probably on account of this 

 habit of concealment, it does not fall a frequent prey to our collectors, as I 

 have not found it in collections sent to me for examination. That excel- 

 lent entomologist, the late Dr. John Hamilton, with whom I had the 

 privilege of corresponding for several years, obtained the species at 

 Sparrow Lake, Ont, and published an interesting note upon it in 

 Canadian Entomologist, 1893, Vol. XXV., p. 279. The species is not 

 so destructive as many others of the Scolytids, but apart from its arresting 

 the growth of the cones and the development of the seeds, it causes a 

 certain amount of injury by its infestation of the young shoots. Schwarz 

 records it from Michigan, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania, proving 

 that its range is an extensive one. I may add that my only specimens 

 of true Dryocoetes affaber (determined by Dr. Hopkins) occurred upon 

 spruce. 



