208 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



female as she emerged and carried her to anotlier tree upon which were 

 some males. As soon as she commenced to crawl up the trunk, she was 

 eagerly followed and embraced by one of the more active males. Copu- 

 lation took place with four different males — the female falling to the 

 ground on each occasion, and being again seized as she crawled up — the 

 last union continuing 23^ minutes, after which she flew away unattended. 



On proceeding to tree number two, I found a very large and strongly 

 excited cluster of the males in the immediate vicinity of the spot from 

 which I had cut the bark on the former day. They were about twenty in 

 number, and were packed so closely together that those in the centre 

 could scarcely be seen. Like the inmates of a burning theatre, they 

 trampled over one another in their excitement. Displacing them with 

 some difficulty, I hewed off a slice of bark and revealed the female cut- 

 ting her way to a new life, her head being partially visible. Her ardent 

 admirers immediately swarmed around and endeavored to get their abdo- 

 mens down the burrow, an undertaking in which they impeded one 

 another so greatly that the only result was wedging the female in and 

 preventing her from emerging. The cluster was soon so dense that she 

 was entirely hidden, and as there seemed no prospect of her getting out 

 for some time under the circumstances, I began to drive off, or rather to 

 forcibly remove one by one, her besiegers. After nearly all were removed, 

 I saw that one of the few remaining had his abdomen inserted its full 

 length in the burrow. As the female was still unable to emerge, I drove d 

 off the remaining males, and as soon as the way was clear she came 

 rapidly out. There was instantly fierce rivalry for her favors, but eventu- 

 ally one stronger, or more agile, than his fellows, succeeded in his desires, 

 the pair remaining about i y, minutes in coitji, after which the female 

 ceased apparently to have further attractions. 



The foregoing notes (written upon the second date of observation) 

 show that the males are able to determine where a female is making her 

 way outward — some time, perhaps, as in the last case recorded, many 

 hours before she appears. Whether this is ascertained by the sense of 

 hearing or smell, or a combination of both, I do not attempt to say, but 

 the antennae are evidently largely used in locating her, as may be readily 

 seen by the way in which the bark is examined with them. When there 

 is a crevice or aperture, the male bends his abdomen— at the suture 

 between first and second segments — until it is at right angles to the 

 thorax, and endeavors to insert it in the said crevice or aperture. He has 



