OF WASHINGTON. 175 
plants, and especially the papers, being badly perforated by both the larvse 
and the beetles. The species was determined as Trigonogenius farctus* 
but upon examination it proved to be quite distinct.* Although I have not 
yet been able to compare specimens I feel quite confident that this herba- 
rium pest is identical with Spkcericus gibbiodes Boield., which is reported 
from Italy, Corsica, and Algeria. It does not appear to be common in Euro- 
pean collections, and I fail to find any reference to its life-history and food- 
habits. At any rate it has never been known as an injurious insect, and 
its appearance in California is certainly interesting enough to be placed on 
record. Mr. Ricksecker was kind enough to send me some living larvae, 
but before they reached me they had changed to pupae within delicate silken 
cocoons spun among the dried plants in which they were sent. When and 
how this insect was introduced into California I am unable to tell, and I 
may only add that Mr. Ricksecker found a few specimens in San Fran- 
cisco as early as 1880. 
SCOLYTID^E ATTACKING TAMARAC TREES. Up to the year 1884 the only 
knowledge we had on the subject was a short notice by Dr. Fitch, in his 
4th Report, p. 65, stating that Tomicuspini attacks not only pines but also 
tamaracs. In the Report of the Annual Meeting of the Ent. Soc. of Ontario 
for 1884 (Canad. Ent., xiv, 1884, p. 218)), Mr. W. H. Harrington speaks of 
a grove of tamarac trees in various stages of health and decay, " the cause 
of the latter seeming to be a Scolytid beetle of the genus Dendroctonus, 
which was found in immense number under bark of sickly and dying trees. 
The bark was completely undermined and riddled by its galleries, and 
swarmed with larvae, pupae, and beetles." There is no subsequent refer- 
ence to this Dendroctonus, and the species remains therefore unnamed, 
but I think I am able to supply the determination. In 1881 or '82, Mr. 
Hubbard and myself visited a tamarac swamp near Grand Ledge, Mich., 
and we found under bark of dying tamaracs numerous specimens of a 
Dendroctonus^ which, no doubt, is identical with that referred to by Mr. 
Harrington, and which I determined as Z>. simplex.^ In July of the pres- 
ent year I found again at Marquette, Mich., some tamaracs which had been 
infested by this species. The inner side of the bark was so completely 
honey-combed with the galleries of the larvae and the beetles that I did 
* At the time this note was read before the Society I considered this spe- 
cies as undescribed, since it greatly differs from Trigonogenius farctus, 
the only species in our fauna with which it can be compared. A subse- 
quent search in the European literature induced me to change my view and 
to alter my manuscript accordingly. The genus Trigonogenius is now , 
restricted to a few species from the west coast of America (Chili, Peru, 
and Lower California), the corresponding species of the Old World being 
referred to SpJuzrtcus Woll. (Tipnus J. DuV.) The differences between 
the two genera are clearly set forth by J. DuVal (Genera des Col., iii, pp. 
2IO-2II). 
fl consider this merely a small race of D. rufipennis. 
