48 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



almost changed to humus. It is found in all its stages at the same time, 

 and seems to have no other business than to hasten the destruction of its 

 habitation. I have never met with a specimen elsewhere. Heretofore its 

 habitatio has been given as under the bark of yellow pine. 



Scolytus rugulosus Ratz. I have obtained this insect twice from 

 hickory twigs placed in a box. The color of these is black, like 6'. 4- 

 spinosus I have others that are reddish-brown, said to be from peach 

 trees. I have carefully looked for it several times in diseased trees of the 

 last mentioned species, and also in pear trees affected by blight, but 

 always with negative results. 



Macrobasis unicolor Kirby is found here in countless numbers from 

 the middle of July till the middle of August, on a leguminous plant 

 (Baptisia australis) growing abundantly on the river shore, the foliage 

 of which it eats with great avidity and entirely destroys. In Economic 

 Entomology it is classed among the insects injurious to vegetation, accord- 

 ing to Riley in the Missouri Reports, devouring potato vines, beans, the 

 foliage of the apple and the honey locust; and on Mount Washington 

 was found by Mr. F. Gardiner, jr., on Pyriis americana. Here it has not 

 been observed to have such tastes, nor to eat any other than the plant 

 mentioned, though potatoes, beans, &c., are cultivated very extensively 

 close by. 



From the observations of Mr. Riley as given in his paper, " On the 

 Larval Characters and Habits of the Blister-beetles," &c., it is probable 

 the young of this beetle live on the eggs of Caloptenus femuf-rubrum, 

 which is also very abundant on the river shore. The gray race is the 

 only one occurring here, and fortunate is it for the farmers along the river 

 that the insect prefers a useless weed to his beans and potatoes. I have 

 experimented with them, and find they possess vesicatory properties equal 

 to the imported C. vesicatoria, a fact, however, that is not new. 



In the larval state of Coleoptera many live in decaying bark and 

 wood, some confined to a single species, or the species of a genus and 

 perhaps its allies. Hickory and beech are more palatable to a greater 

 number than any other wood. The following seem to be omnivorous : — 



Cucujus clavipes feeds on locust, maple, sycamore, wild cherry, hickory, 

 white oak, elm ; Clinidium sculpt He on spruce, hemlock, tamarack, black 

 oak, hickory, chestnut, ash, gum, poplar, birch ; Synchroa punctata on 

 all species of oak, hickory, apple, cherry, mulberry, osage orange, chest- 

 nut ; Dendroides canadensis on nearly everything. 



