OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XI, 



1909 



55 



Observations made thus far indicate that among the species 

 which infest deciduous trees there are two distinct groups, 

 viz, those that bore in the hard, solid wood, and others which 

 live in the softer decaying wood. Besides these there are a 

 small number of species, comprising about four genera, that 

 have been collected from under the bark of dying and dead 

 coniferous trees. Mr. H. E. Burke, of the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy, collected a number of adult specimens of Melasis rufipen- 

 nis in Abies concolor. He found that they had bored through 

 the bark and to a distance of 2 or 3 inches into the solid wood 

 of a dying tree. Whether this was for the purpose of oviposit- 

 ing or merely to obtain food it is impossible to say. 



Deltometopus has been found beneath the bark of Pinus 

 virginiana, and Epiphanis and .Inalastes in the adult form 



under dead bark of dif- 

 ferent coniferous trees. 

 There is no record of 

 the larvae of any of these 

 species having been col- 

 lected, and no observa- 

 tions have been made on 

 their life history. 



Of the eastern species 

 which live in sound, 

 hard wood, there are 

 only about three known 

 genera, two of which at- 

 tack practically all hard, 

 fine-grained wood, pre- 

 ferably the maple. The 

 most common of these 

 is Melasis pectinicornis. 

 While these species normally infest the sound wood, they 

 are sometimes found in slightly decaying wood, as under damp 

 conditions the wood will often begin to decay before the brood 

 has emerged. Species of the genera Thar ops and Melasis 

 make transverse galleries extending directly across the grain 

 of the wood in more or less of a semicircle, though seldom, if 

 ever, extending entirely around. Such a gallery once recog- 

 nized could not be mistaken for any other. 



A specimen of the work of Thar ops ruficornis in Cornus 

 florida, collected at Virginia Beach, Va. (fig. 4). showed that 

 the larvae had completely severed the trunk almost as neatly as 

 if done by a saw, though not as regularly, as it required nearly a 



FIG. 4. Work of Tharops rujlcornis larvae in 

 Cornus florida. 



