IHE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 163 



resin stopper, the last one, was applied just underneath this hole, 

 and all the rest of the canal, some 24 cm., was left unoccupied. 

 In the accompanying sketch only the section of the branch con- 

 taining the woodpecker's holes has been represented. 



We see here a case in which a Hymenoptera showed remark- 

 able discernment by filling up an accidental opening in the stalk 

 it had chosen as a home for its young, and which, if left open, would 

 have proved fatal for the further development of its progeny. 

 Moreover, the insect stopped its work in time to avoid a repetition 

 of the same labour. Indeed, it is not easy to explain how the 

 ofTspring — of moderate size as indicated by the length of the 

 cells — could have made their way through a barricade twelve 

 millimeters thick, like the one near the lowest orifice. 



Must we now infer that the insect in question proved itself 

 to be endowed with reason and intelligence? The problem has 

 already been solved. Ferton* quotes a case in which an Odyneriis 

 pasictum L. covered with clay a lateral fissure several centimeters 

 long. He mentions also two instances in which an Osmia ferru- 

 ginea Latr. stopped up in the same way holes in a shell of a Helix. 

 The Osmia cornida Latr. in several cases repaired cracks in the 

 walls of its nest. Of six specimens of Heriades trimcorum observed 

 by him, three filled up fissures with resin. 



The above mentioned author infers from these facts that 

 such actions are mere manifestations of instinct, and says in con- 

 clusion: "With Hymenoptera, acts of intelligence are exceptional; 

 often those which seem such are nothing else than its manifesta- 

 tions of a habit but seldom remarked." 



NEW COLEOPTERA.— VI. 



BY H. C. FALL, PASADENA, CAL. 



The preceding articles of this series have appeared at inter- 

 vals from Aug., 1905, to Feb., 1912^under the caption "New 

 Coleoptera, Chiefl\- From the Southwest." For the present one 

 and any that may follow, the abbreviated title will be used, even 

 though the majority of new species described may still come from 

 the Southwest. 



* Ferton: Sur 1' instinct des Hvmenopteres. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1901, pp. 

 142—144. 



May, 1917 



