ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY — ENTOMOLOGY. 51 



Chicago, in 1893, at whicli time it was practically unknown to American sci- 

 entists. Tliis beetle has since been received in stored corn from the State of 

 Oaxaca, Mexico. The original generic and specific descriptions are reproduced 

 and descriptions given of its immature stages. The literature relating to the 

 species is considered in connection with a bibliography of 10 titles. 



Adults placed in a rearing jar of fresh meal, with slices of raw potato to 

 furnish additional moisture, and kept in a cool room showed conclusively that 

 they were able to withstand the average temperature of an ordinary mill, ware- 

 house, or granary of a latitude such as that of the District of Columbia. It 

 is stated that the beetles are much more active than the meal-feeding tene- 

 brionids. At summer temperature the life cycle from egg to adult was found 

 to be passed in 32 days. 



The Siamese grain beetle {Lophocateres pusillus) (pp. 14-18). — This beetle 

 was found for the first time in rice and other cereal exhil)its from Siam, Liberia, 

 and Ceylon, at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It has since been 

 found to be established at Charleston, S. C, and Houston, Galveston, and 

 Brownsville, Tex., and has been received in grain from New Braunfels, Tex., 

 Peru, Guatemala, Java, Siam, and in paddy rice from India that was traced to 

 Georgetown, Demerara. Eice, rye flour, beans, soy beans, eggplants, and gourd 

 seeds have been found infested by it. The original generic and specific descrip- 

 tions are reprinted, together with a translation of a description of the larva. 

 A bibliography of 8 titles is appended. 



Insects injurious to forests and forest products. — Damag'e to chestnut tele- 

 phone and telegraph, poles by wood-boring insects, T. E. Snyder ( U. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent. Bui. 5//, pt. 1, pp. 11, pis. 2, figs. 3). — The author has found 

 that serious damage is being done to the bases of standing chestnut telephone 

 and telegraph poles in Maryland, Virginia, and other States. 



In this paper particular attention is given to investigations made of the chest- 

 nut telephone pole borer, Parandra hrunnea. Its injury to poles consists in 

 large mines in the wood near the line of contact of the pole with the ground, 

 necessitating the frequent resetting or even replacement of the damaged poles. 

 The borers usually work in the outer layers of the wood at the base of the pole 

 for a distance of from 2 to 3 ft. below, and sometimes from 1 to 2 ft. above the 

 line of contact of the pole with the surface of the ground. The greatest damage 

 is to that area just below and just above the surface of the ground, where the 

 conditions of air and moisture are more favorable. Often, however, the entire 

 butt up to a distance of 4 to 6 ft. and higher, according to the depth of setting, 

 is mined. Poles that appear sound on the exterior may have the entire basal 

 interior riddled and the work of the borers not be noticed until the poles break 

 off. " It has also been determined that this beetle damages many species of 

 living forest, fruit, and shade trees that have been previously injured by fire 

 or other causes, and often leads to the destruction of trees that would otherwise 

 recover from such wounds, and while not normally a primary enemy of trees, 

 may thus become of more than secondary importance." 



The author concludes that the eggs are deposited from August to October in 

 crevices on the exterior of the pole near the surface of the ground, the adults 

 having been found flying from July to September. The pupal stage is passed 

 in a broad chamber in the pole. The species is very widely distributed, ranging 

 from Ontario, Canada, to Texas, eastward to the Atlantic coast, and westward 

 to Arizona and southern California. 



Inspections made near Dover, N. J., of a test line of poles set 8 years before 

 and variously treated for preservation (brush treatments with a patented car- 

 bolineum preservative and spirittine, charring the butt, setting the pole in sand, 

 and setting in small broken stone) and alternating with untreated poles, show 



