OF WASHINGTON. 21 



the tip, the bunch folding outward in retraction. The mandibles 

 bear five large teeth, of which the first, second and fourth are 

 larger than the third and fifth ; there are a set of fine brushes 

 just within the labrum and on the maxillae. The antennae are 

 slender, straight, not very long, uniformly colored brown like 

 the head. The body hairs all arise from large, chitinous plates. 

 Those of the thorax are short, thick and finely branched ; of the 

 abdomen longer, with more delicate branches. The chitinized 

 part of the air-tube is short, conic, not much longer than wide, 

 out there is a basal unchitinized portion that does not show on 

 the slides. The tube is without pecten, but bears two small tufts. 

 On the sides of the eighth segment are a pair of large, ragged- 

 edged plates, replacing the comb. The anal segment is ringed, 

 short, the ventral brush confined to the barred area, the wide 

 bars containing eyelet holes from which the tufts arise. The 

 dorsal tuft is small and arises from the upper edge of a rounded, 

 nearly black plate. The posterior rim of the segment is fringed 

 with long spines. The larva falls in the synoptic table with 

 Psorophora, differing from that in the presence of a plate on 

 the side of the eighth segment instead of a comb of spines. 



Mr. Schwarz exhibited a specimen of the Dendrobium 

 longicorn beetle (Diaxenes dendrobii Gahan). This genus of 

 Cerambycidae is known to infest, in the larval state, the stems of 

 various orchid plants which are native to the Philippine Islands 

 and to British Burmah. Plants infested with these beetles have 

 of late years been frequently imported into the orchid houses of 

 Paris and London, and quite a literature has arisen, in the 

 French and English entomological and horticultural journals, on 

 the ravages committed by this beetle upon these costly plants. 

 Mr. Schwarz said that the specimen exhibited was the first one 

 ever recorded from the United States. The plant in question is 

 an East Indian species and was imported by Mr. George Field, 

 a florist of Washington, D. C., by way of London, England. 

 Since there has been only one specimen of the beetle found, 

 there seems to be no danger at present that the species is getting 

 acclimatized in the orchid houses of this country. 



In connection with some remarks made by Mr. Doolittle on 

 the food habits of longicorn beetles, Mr. Schwarz stated that 

 the imagoes of a conspicuous species common in Texas, Arizona 



