THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 107 



without the specific characters. Detroit and Marquette are given as the 

 places of its occurrence. 



I find it here very abundantly in June on a species of small willow 

 growing in upland thickets, and its identification I owe to the kindness of 

 Dr. G. H. Horn. The genus in which it is placed is sufficiently defined 

 under the name Alyca in the monograph of the Rhyncophora. The 

 species is of easy recognition. It is about 2 mm. in length ; the color at 

 maturity is dark brown to black when deprived of vestiture; the elytra are 

 finely striate, with the intervals wide and almost plane ; the whole insect 

 is densely clothed with a grayish, prostrate, scaly covering, easily rubbed 

 off, which on the elytra is longer and hairlike. The insect takes its name 

 from two black denuded spots on the elytra at the middle ; they are shaped 

 like a horse shoe with the convexity anterior, and are formed by two 

 longer denuded parallel lines on the second and fourth striae, united at the 

 apex by a shorter one on the third. With age other spots are formed by 

 abrasion, mostly near the base and apex, thus giving a tri-fasciate appear- 

 ance. Specimens entirely nude would be difficult to determine, but 

 fortunately for the collector, when found, the individuals are abundant. 



Xyloryctes satyrus Fab. This large beetle is widely distributed, being 

 found in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas to Canada, and southward, 

 and probably occurring wherever the ash and liquidambar grow. So far 

 as known to me, but little has been written concerning it, and its life- 

 history as given is mostly surmise. There is a wood cut of it in the U. S. 

 Agricultural Report for 1873, with some remarks; and Mr. B. D. Walsh, 

 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., v. 9, p. 287, states that the larvae, which he 

 briefly describes, live on the roots of grass. 



In this latitude it emerges the latter part of June and beginning of July, 

 and immediately resorts to the (white) ash, especially such as grow in open 

 grassy places, at the roots of which it burrows, and may be taken in large 

 numbers. The disparity between the sexes as to number is noticeable. 

 On July 2nd fifty-five were taken at the base of a single tree, all of which 

 were males except three. Thinking the females, as in some other species, 

 would appear later, the same tree was again visited on the loth, and forty- 

 seven taken from the ground formerly dug over, thirteen being females. 



Whether they eat anything is unknown, but being nocturnal, provided 

 with well developed wings and having short, but sharp, toothed mandibles, 

 it is probable they feed by night on the foliage of the ash. Certain it is they 

 do not feed on the roots nor damage them in any way, and why this par- 



