142 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Many larv?e of some Ceranibycide continued to work on under the bark ; 

 late in the fall I observed the most of these had penetrated the wood, but 

 some remained under the bark till April and May of the next year (1885). 

 The most of the beetles appeared during the first two weeks of June, 

 though individuals occurred occasionally till September. A few larvas 

 were still found at work, but by October they, likewise, had bored into 

 the wood and appeared as beetles the next June (1886). The normal 

 period of metamorphosis is therefore three years, Init in individuals it may 

 be retarded to four or more years. 



At the present writing (June 5th) these beetles are issuing in great 

 numbers from a barrel of hickory limbs obtained in April, 1885, from a 

 tree deadened in January, 1S84, thus verifying the first observation. 



How the larvffi get under the bark could not be ascertained. When 

 first examined, in April, they were from 4 to 5 m.ni. long ; they ate the 

 wood under the bark, following its grain, and packed their burrow solidly 

 with their dust. Their growth and progress were both slow, for by the 

 next April they had scarcely more than doubled in length, and had not 

 traveled more than from four to six inches during the year; but after July 

 they developed an enormous appetite, and consumed the wood for at least 

 an inch in length, and often entirely around the limb, ejecting their cast- 

 ings through holes made in the bark. When full fed, they bore obliquely 

 an oval hole into the wood, penetrating it from four to ten inches. The 

 larva then packs the opening with fine castings and enlarges a couple of 

 inches of the interior of the burrow by gnawing off its sides a quantity of 

 coarse fibre, in which it lies, after turning its head to the entrance. When 

 about to become a pupa (I witnessed the process), the skin ruptures on 

 the dorsum of three or four segments next the head ; the head of the 

 pupa appears, and after about half an hour's wriggling the whole body is 

 divested of its covering. To the observer the pupa appears to crawl out 

 of the skin, but in fact the skin with the large mandibles is forced back- 

 wards by the alternate extension and contraction of the segments, assisted 

 materially by the fibre that surrounds it. After its soft body hardens, the 

 same movements free it from the fibre, some being shoved in advance of 

 the head, and some posteriorly, the exuviae being often found at tlie distal 

 end of the hole. 



The time spent in the pupal state is indefinite, and does not seem to 

 concern greatly the time of the appearance of the beetle. Sticks split 

 open at different periods from December till March contained larvae and 



