OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XVII, I'.U.i 165 



Catolaccus incertus were observed for forty-five minutes i W.D.P). 

 During this time the male was on and off, but for thirty minutes 

 in all he was perched on the back of the female. He was only 

 one-half her length and as he rested on her thorax, with his front 

 feet placed on her face, his hind legs rested on the apex of the 

 thorax, and the tip of his abdomen reached no further. The 

 wings of the male were upright while those of the female lay in 

 repose. The antennae of the latter were very active, communi- 

 cating a message by some wigwag code, now one, now both, now 

 fast, now slow, tapping the face of her mate or moving in his 

 sight ; and in response, the antennae of the male frequently came 

 down and touched the tips of her antennae or tapped on her face. 

 His antennae were, however, much oftener quiet and pointing to 

 the front. Another peculiar action was the sudden darting back 

 to the abdomen, which was sometimes forced by the female push- 

 ing the male back with her hind legs, but he each time, ran back 

 to his original position or jumped off. The male seldom was 

 aware of the presence of the female at a greater distance than a 

 quarter of an inch, but the latter's perception was much greater. 

 When conscious of his mate's presence the male's antennas were' 

 very active in dispatching a wireless message, only ceasing when 

 it was again perched on her back. The actual copulation was not 

 witnessed. 



On September 10th, the courtship of a pair of Cerambycobius 

 cuskmani ( 'rawford bred from huisache pods was recorded (R. 

 A. C.) This was conducted very differently from that just de- 

 scribed and so is worthy of equal mention. They first met face 

 to face and the male began stroking her antennas which were held 

 up in front of his face. After doing this for a few seconds he 

 jumped on her back and continued very rapidly stroking her 

 antennae, which were held up in front of his face. This action 

 lasted for some seconds, and he then walked backwards down 

 under the end of the female's ab< lomen unt il the tip of his body was 

 just under the anterior end of her abdomen, when the connection 

 took place. This did not last more than a second. When the 

 male left the female his copulatory organ was still protruding 

 about one thirty-second of an inch and appeared black and 

 chitinous. In a few seconds the process was repeated exactly as 

 before except that the copulatory organ was retracted before the 

 male left the female. 



The courtship and mating of Euri/t<nn<i li/lodcr/nali* Aslimead 

 and Microdontomerus anlhaintnii ( 'rawt'ord, Hrncun in< /I/tor Say. 

 Urosigalphus bruchi Crawford and M /cruhnn-o,: ////////* Say were 

 also witnessed, but not recorded. Several experiments \vere eon- 

 ducted to settle the specific distinction between ( 'cruinhi/coltiiis 

 cyaniceps Ashmead and Cerambycobius cn^hnmni Crawford. In 

 no case did the one species pay any attention to the opposite sex 



