110 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



ered that in northeastern New York it lives in the sub 

 terranean part of the stems of young Sugar Maple saplings, 

 and that this hitherto supposed rare Scolytid is, at least in 

 northeastern New York, greatly injurious to that valuable 

 tree. This discovery was certainly a most interesting one, but 

 did not fully settle the question of food-plants, for I knew that 

 specimens had been captured in places where there are no 

 Sugar Maples ; and this tree does also not grow in the vicinity 

 of Columbia, S. C., where Dr. Zimmermann in all probability 

 found the original specimens. It was to be suspected that this 

 Scolytid had another food-plant, and this was unexpectedly 

 discovered toward the end of September almost within the 

 city limits of Washington, where the beetle was found in 

 abundance in the roots of the common Huckleberry. The 

 fact that it is the first Coleopteron known to affect the 

 Huckleberry, and that it is one of the few Scolytids known to 

 live in plants which are not tree-like, induced me to spend 

 some Sunday's excursions during October to study the habits 

 of this Corthylus. The observations are of course only frag 

 mentary so far, since they were made at a season when the in 

 sect is already in its winter rest and in its winter quarters. 



From Dr. Merriam's excellent account and figures (Amer. 

 Nat., 17, 1883, pp. 84-86) it can be seen that the beetle, after 

 entering the stem just at or very near to the surface of the 

 ground, constructs a circular burrow within the wood close to 

 the bark, but so that the furthest end of the burrow is always a 

 little above or below the entrance hole. From this circular 

 burrow a varying number of straight, short galleries lead off 

 perpendicularly either upward or downward. Sometimes the 

 beetle uses the bottom of one of these shorter galleries to dig 

 deeper down in the stem, and to construct then a second circu 

 lar gallery parallel with the upper one and possessing also the 

 vertical shorter galleries. In rare instances Dr. Merriam ob 

 served also a third story of galleries. The vertical galleries 

 are also excavated by the parent beetle, and are the larval 

 cradles ; one egg is laid in each, and the larva remains station 

 ary, does not enlarge the cradle, and is a sap-feeder. 



The work of the beetle in the roots, or rather subterranean 

 stems, of the Huckleberry differs but slightly from that in 

 Sugar Maple. The largest root of Huckleberry which I found 

 to be infested me'asured not quite 10 mm. in thickness, and the 

 smallest but little over 3 mm. It is, indeed, quite astonishing 

 to .see how this comparatively large beetle manages to make 

 its circular burrow in such a narrow space ; but I have also 

 found infested stems where the beetle, after entering the stem, 

 found it too thin, and left it on the shortest way, viz : by eat- 



