Sept., '04] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 243 



and when fresh yellow-dusted, is resting on the green branches 

 of Parkinsonia microphylla, otherwise known as the "Palo 

 Verde ' ' of our desert. The latter is a small tree from ten to 

 fifteen feet high, and this beetle has a fondness of resting on the 

 higher branches of this thorny Parkinsonia, so that we have 

 to use a net fastened to an extension pole. The much smaller 

 Sphcenotica saturnalis rests on dead branches of the same wood, 

 the darker color of which is quite protective. Another fine 

 Buprestid, Gyascutus obliteratus, heavily dusted with yellow 

 powder, and the ground or body color being of a greenish- 

 gray, is found on young " Palo Verde," the stems of which 

 are bright green. Under a glaring hot sun in May or June 

 this beetle is very alert, and a silken net is soon torn to pieces 

 by the long thorns of this shrubby tree. The bark and thorns 

 of very young " Palo Verde " much resemble obliteratus. 



The highly polished black Acmceodera gibbula Horn, which 

 has a row of scarlet spots on the outer border of the elytra, I 

 take early in April on the leafless branches of Acacia greggii, 

 known as the " Cat's-claw bush" in Arizona. The bark of 

 this Acacia is brown, covered here and there with dead epi- 

 dermis, especially in the fork of branchlets. This Acmceodera 

 clusters around these blackish spots and is not easily detected. 

 Frequently it rests on the tip end of a branch. I gave some 

 of these beetles to Dr. H. G. Griffith when he collected here, 

 who sent them for determination to Mr. Fall, and the latter 

 returned them as nov. spec., labeled A. griffithii. My insects 

 had been previously compared with gibbula of Dr. Horn's 

 collection, and so named. 



The green branches of Salt* occidcntalis furnish the feeding 

 place of that handsome Chalcolepidius smaragdinus, the most 

 brilliant elaterid of Arizona. Smaragdinus is a gem of great 

 rarity, and very uneasy when detected. C. n'ebbii and C. tar- 

 taricus, both of bluish-green with a border of white hair around 

 elytra, affect any kind of a willow branch, and even suck the 

 sap from a wounded limb. 



Probably for safety, smaragdinus ascends to the topmost 

 branches, always the greenest of willow. When frightened it 

 alights on the broad leaves of Salt*, and quickly runs up the 



