OF WASHINGTON. 231 
stances the Cicadas develop on such cleared places one or several years 
earlier than the time of their regular appearance, and that these precur- 
sors, if numerous enough, vrould then be able to form a new brood. 
The appearance of the Cicadas in the District of Columbia and in Alex- 
andria county, Va., is remarkable on account of the excessive rarity of 
the specimens. No one who does not particularly search for specimens, 
and who remembers the vast swarms of Cicadas in 1885 (Riley's Brood 
XXII), would suspect that we have this year a visitation of the Periodical 
Cicada. These few specimens can hardly be called a " brood," and it is 
much to be regretted that we have no records of previous appearances 
around Washington either in 1872 or 1855, so that we would be able to 
make comparisons. If the Cicadas were rare only within the city I would 
say that the sparrows had destroyed them in 1872, but since they are 
equally rare in the open country, I am at a loss to explain this scarcity. 
Moreover, the sparrows were in 1872 not nearly as numerous in Washing- 
ton as they are now. I cannot see how the few specimens that have ap- 
peared here this season can be able to perpetuate their race, and in 1906 
there will, in all probability, not a single specimen be seen in Washing- 
ton and its surroundings. 
In the general discussion of this note by Messrs. Howard, 
Townsend, and others, the appearance of the Cicada this year in 
considerable numbers in parts of North Carolina and West Vir- 
ginia was mentioned localities heretofore doubtful ; and also in 
less numbers in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and New 
Jersey. 
Mr. Schwarz presented for publication the following paper : 
FOOD-PLANTS AND FOOD-HABITS OF SOME NORTH AMERICAN COLEOPTERA. 
By E. A. SCHWARZ. 
Ino immunda. Larva and imago under bark of dead branches of Finns 
tceda and P. palustris, which are infested with Pityophthorus pulicarius. 
The larva probably preys on those of the latter species. It is a widely 
distributed species, and I found it in southern Georgia (in April), Vir- 
ginia (in July), and Maryland (in August), always near the coast. 
Epurcea avara. Larvae, pupse, and imagos were found near Washing- 
ton, D. C., on April 24th, within a beautiful orange-colored fungus grow- 
ing around the branches and trunks of Pinus inops, and which has received 
the very appropriate name Peridendron cerebrum. The beetle is much 
more widely distributed than the fungus, and lives no doubt in several 
other fungi. 
Myrmechixenus latridioides is found plentifully by Mr. Ulke around 
Washington, D. C., in old stable-manure. 
Oxycnemus histrinus. This has been found by Mr. Hubbard at Baraboo, 
Wis., in October, on a subterranean fungus of the genus Phallus. 
