232 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [May, '08 



places, which bear evidence that our insect novice still retained 

 some of its "old fogy notions" by its efforts to excavate a tun- 

 nel for its home, in each of these decayed places, and abandoned 

 them by reason of the silicified layers intervening between the 

 annual growths, which are peculiar to this particular variety of 

 wood, and which cause much trouble and annoyance to the 

 manufacturer. What our little novice lacked in botanical wis- 

 dom it made up by experience, and we can imagine that, though 

 it was thoroughly disgusted with its failure it still retained the 

 proverbial "grit" of this family of insects, by the ready man- 

 ner it adapted the mechanical groove in the block of wood to 

 its own purposes. It now appears that our little novice made 

 the best of its environments, and enlarged its plans in advance 

 of any of its kind by planning a larger and more magnificient 

 domicile, and proceed to divide up its newly acquired premises 

 into twelve rooms and cells, neatly partitioned off with mud. 

 In Comstock's Manual for the Study of Insects, page 658 is 

 illustrated a nest of this insect, composed of five cells, but in 

 this case, it was a home built with its own hands ( ?) and exer- 

 tion hence it did not feel equal to, or had no desire, pro- 

 vide a larger or more commodius domicile, as did the subject 

 of this sketch. 



Later in the season when a workman had occasion to take 

 some material from this pile of lumber, in lifting the block 

 containing this interesting specimen he discovered the peculiar 

 and new form, and consulted the writer as to its identity. 



The block being separated from the smooth plain surface 

 of the plank below, exhibited a very perfect cross-section view 

 of the nest containing the live pupae, and each pupa suspended 

 in fine web so that it did not come in contact at any point 

 with the walls of its cell, and no visible remains of food ma- 

 terial with which the cells were first stored. The pupae are 

 exactly, in shape and appearance like a very slender medicine 

 capsule filled with a dark chocolate colored material and cap- 

 ped with white. 



Thus, in many ways the interesting insect world contributes 

 to the curiosity and wonder of the human kind. 



