1901 ENTOMOLOGIC iL SOCIETY. 69 



History of the Species in Other Lands. 



The species was described by Linn;eus in his " Systema Nafcurte," in 1763, its habitat being 

 given as Europe, and found on Salix and Rwnex, willow and dock. Later, it received atten- 

 tion from Fabricius in his "Systema eleuteratarum, 1801; Syst. Entomologia, 1775; Spec. 

 Insectorum, 1781 ; Entom. Systematica, 1792," and later by Zetterstedt, Mathieu and Kalten- 

 bach. It is included in Turton's Linnajus, 1806, Vol. II., p. 231. Ratzeburg, in his "Die 

 Forst-Insecten," 1839, p. 155, briefly characterizes the insect, and states that it takes its name 

 from the large-leaved dock, Lapathum, of the ancients, on which it sometimes sits. In Silesia 

 it is called the alder destroyer (Erlenwurger). In July, 1824, iu the vicinity of Liegnitz, a 

 whole alder plantation was destroyed by it, and even a large number of trees ready for cutting 

 did not escape. Willows were also destroyed by it. Nordlinger, in " Nachtrage zu Ratze- 

 burg's Forstinsekten," 1856, p. 15, says that, according to Herr Suffrian, it occurred on low 

 willows four or five feet high at the bases of the branches, and also on these last, and in June 

 and July it was found in great numbers at Hohenheim on Canadian poplars, and also on white 

 willows, where it would remain for hours with its snout buried in the spongy linticels. 



Herr Hahn, wood commissioner of the district of Laupheim, observed in the forest of 

 Ochsenhauser, on a strip of land on which both deciduous and coniferous trees were growing, 

 that the birches five to eight feet high were broken off about three feet below the top, and 

 were hanging down. One inch below the break was a worm-hole filled with worm-dust and 

 wood shavings, in each of which was found a yellowish white larva with a brown head, which, 

 after from eight to fourteen days, developed into one of these curculios. Herr Hahn considered 

 tliat in this case the insect had destroyed the growth of two years. 



In 1867, Brehm and Rossmassler, in "Die Thiere des Waldes," Bd. II,, p. 171, under the 

 term " Der Erlenrusselkafer," state that they have only noticed the insect in the mountain 

 region, where it constantly works on the white alder, Alnus incana L., hardly a bush along 

 the brooks and forest borders being free from the pest, the branches and trunks attacked readily 

 breaking ofi". 



In 1868, Ratzeburg again takes up the species in his " Die Waldverderbniss," dealing with 

 it much more thoroughly than he had been able to do in his previous writings, and calling 

 attention to the observations of Zebe and Herr V. Kamptz, relative to the injuries done by the 

 insect, the latter having observed the habits of the beetle in Mecklenberg-Strelitz for many years. 

 He states that an annual generation is the rule, and hibernation, therefore, occurs in all stages, 

 most seldom in the larval state. The point that the beetle prefers isolated trees and does not 

 like a wet locality well, is repeated, but he is still reluctant in classing the black alder as a 

 common food plant, though not doubting that it is one of the food plants. In 1869, in " Die 

 Waldverderber," pp. 171, 172, he states that the eggs are laid in May, the normal season, 

 usually on alders— the black rather than the white— much more rarely on poplars, birches and 

 willows, and the beetle prefers the young shoots or branches two to three years old. He is 

 seemingly much perplexed over the fact that, while the beetles pair and the females oviposit 

 normally in May, they were also abundant in August. 



In 1881, Dr. Bernard Altum. in " Forstzoologie," III. Bd. abth., p. 220, opens his dis- 

 cussion of the species by the interesting statement that there are 221 species of the genus 

 Cryptorhynchus, distributed over the entire earth, while Taschenberg, in " Brehra's Tierleben 

 Insekten," 9 Bd., p. 163, 1892, states that G. lapathi is the only European representative of a 

 South American genus. I may add here that we have now 16 species inhabiting North 

 America, north of Mexico, the majority of them inhabiting the southern or south-western States. 

 Dr. Altum wrestles with the life history, and does not clear up the obscurity, but states that 

 while the sexes pair and oviposit in May, they may be observed pairing in September, there 

 being a noticeaV)le falling oflF in point of numibers during July. He leaves the subject by allow- 



