THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 207 



insect just appearing through the wood. The males had flown away when 

 disturbed, and I was afraid that they might not return before the female 

 emerged, but two came swiftly back and commenced to pay her atten- 

 tions before much more than her head was visible. As soon as she was 

 out of the burrow she was embraced by one, and copulation apparently 

 followed, but did not last long, as she began to crawl up the trunk, and 

 when I interfered to prevent her getting out of sight, the male flew away. 

 However another was ready to take his place, and the pair were almost 

 instantly in coitu. A few seconds later the female attempted to fly, and 

 fell to the ground ; the male disengaged himself and flew away, and his 

 partner then did the same, starting with a strong and rapid flight. 



Visiting another tree not many paces distant, I saw a group of more 

 than a dozen males of hinato7- in very evident anxiety and excitement, 

 their long antennae quivering, and their whole demeanor evidencing some 

 powerful emotion. I peeled off" a piece of bark at the centre of attraction, 

 but found no sign of any insect coming forth. An hour or so later, when 

 returning from my ramble, the group was even larger, and several were 

 probing a crevice within an inch of the space from which I had stripped 

 the bark. Thinking that the female might be here, I cut off another piece 

 of bark, but could find no signs of her, although the males were so excited 

 as even to settle on my hands. 



Proceeding to the tree from which I had previously seen a female 

 emerge, I found several males clustered about three inches from where she 

 had come out. Two had the abdomen flexed and the tip inserted in a 

 small aperture in the bark. Stripping off this fragment of bark, I found 

 that a female was there, and had gnawed her passage so nearly through 

 the bark as to have pierced the surface. The males fluttered excitedly 

 around, and, as in the first instance, she was embraced before she had 

 wholly emerged, and copulation was effected as soon as she was out. 

 Being in a hurry, and wishing to preserve the specimens, I boxed them, 

 the other males flying around me in great excitement until this was 

 achieved. 



Two days later I was able to visit the same locality for the purpose of 

 making further observations on these insects. On tree number one I saw 

 at some distance up the trunk a small cluster of expectant males. By 

 standing on the top of a dilapidated and shaky fence, I was just able to 

 reach the spot and with my knife remove the covering of bark As my 

 position was too precarious for comfortable observation, I secured the 



