OF WASHINGTON. 113 



In larger plants more cradles are usually made, and the largest 

 number I found in a single plant was fifteen, but it is of course 

 impossible to say whether this corresponds with the largest 

 number of eggs which a single female is capable of laying. 

 The beetle dies within its galleries, and her dead body can 

 still be found when the next generation of beetles has under 

 gone their transformation. Whether there is one or two 

 annual generations can only be determined by future observa 

 tions. 



That this insect is a formidable enemy to the Sugar Maple 

 is evident from Dr. Merriam's account. He says " in I,ewis 

 county [N. Y.] alone hundreds of thousands of young sugar 

 maples perished from the ravages of this Scolytid during the 

 summer of 1882." As to its injury to the Huckleberry but 

 little observation is necessary to find that every gallery is fatal 

 to the plant above the infested place. In view of its abund 

 ance the beetle would seem, therefore, to act as a serious 

 check to the growth of the plant, but the latter is so exceed 

 ingly common and the vitality of the root so indestructible as 

 to fully counterbalance the loss suffered. For while digging 

 in the ground and examining every stock it will be found that 

 the root itself is never killed by the w r ork of the beetle ; the 

 plant above the ground dies but the root below the infested 

 part sends forth one or two new shoots. 



Supposing that Corthylus punctatissimus has no other food- 

 plants besides the Sugar Maple and the Huckleberry, the 

 question arises which of the two is its original food-plant and 

 which represents an acquired habit ? A satisfactory answer 

 cannot be given as long as we are ignorant of the food-habits 

 of the beetle in the more southern localities, and more 

 especially whether or not it feeds on the Sugar Maple in South 

 Carolina and further south. The great damage to Sugar 

 Maples in northeastern New York, as reported by Dr. Mer- 

 riam, has every appearance o/ resulting from one of those 

 sudden invasions or irruptions which we are accustomed to 

 see in recently introduced insects. Had this beetle been living 

 in the Sugar Maples of New York for many years, its ravages 

 could hardly have failed to attract the attention of the resident 

 entomologists. The species is evidently an immigrant from 

 the south ; it belongs to a genus of tropical origin. Five 

 species have been described from South America ; others will 

 no doubt be found in the Antillean region ; and one, presently 

 to be described, occurs in semi-tropical Florida. C. puncta 

 tissimus is the only one which extends into the boreal region 

 of North America, and I fully believe that the food-plant 



