382 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



specimens of Eleusis fasciata also inhabit the fermenting Da- 

 sylirion leaves. Finally there are several Aleocharinae, all more 

 or less flattened, opaque, with dark coloration, the elytra alone 

 being reddish. Of other orders I find the jumping larva of a Pio- 

 phila, a peculiar Phlceotrips and the larva of a small Lepidopter. * 



Without a careful and methodical dissection of the plant hardly 

 anything of this rich fauna can be found. The bud and the bud 

 leaves must first be removed, and then the leaves surrounding the 

 central axis of the plant lifted out one by one in their regular 

 order, beginning with the uppermost layer of leaves. It takes 

 several hour^ to thoroughly examine a large plant, but not a 

 single insect living between the imbricated layers of leaves can 

 make its escape from the bowl-shaped cavity between the handles 

 of the leaves and the central axis. 



In the lower layers of leaves, near the ground, a number of 

 other beetles creep in from beneath but do not properly belong 

 to the Dasylirion fauna: various Tenebrionidae (Arceoschizus 

 decipiens, A. sulcicollis, Emmenastus longulus}, Hemiptychus, 

 Elaterid larvae, etc. Underneath the dry clumps of dead Dasy- 

 lirions which can be overturned, there are the usual rats' and mice 

 nests and usually a numerous colony of Eleodes. 



In the dead flower stalks I see the burrows of a Buprestid, 

 probably Thrincopyge, but flower stalks are rare here, as they are 

 generally eaten off while young and tender. One of the poles of 

 last year, however, had a large colony of Apotrepus densicollis* 

 most of the specimens being immature. The flowers of Dasy 

 lirion attract great numbers of a Chrysomelid ( Triarius trivit- 

 tatus} and small Mordellid beetles (Pent art a decolor ata). 



I forgot to mention that I find constantly in the central axis of 

 dead Dasylirions a large lamellicorn larva (Phileurus Hiatus}. 

 It is this larva which reduces to powder the axis of the dead plant, 

 following up the work of Scyphophorus, which feeds for the most 

 part in the leaf bases, seldom burrowing deeply in the central core, 

 and. never attacks the dry and dead plants. The Phileurus larvas 

 reduce the core which binds together the disk-like whorls of leaf 

 bases, so that the entire plant can be overturned and disintegrated 

 by a few kicks with the foot. The larva is forming its pupa ceil 

 in the rotten heart of the plant ; the pupa has a pair of stout horn 

 like elevations upon the head, and is dark red in color ; in fact, it 

 resembles very much that of Xyloryctes. It is difficult to preserve 

 the living pupa without injury in spite of its apparently solid con 

 struction. There is apparently another large white grub in the 

 older stems after they have been partly eaten out by the Phileurus. 

 I have not found the pupa of this, but it may belong to Listroche- 

 lus or Phytalus. A Longicorn larva of rather peculiar appear 

 ance (perhaps Tragidion armatum) bores into and through the 

 dying leaf bases of Dasylirion and forms pupa cells which resem 

 ble those of Scyphophorus. 



