COLEOPTERA. 99 



decaying elms on Boston Common ; and, among the insects, 

 I recognized a pair of these beetles in a living state. My 

 curiosity was immediately excited to learn something more 

 concerning these beetles and their connection with the trees, 

 but was not satisfied by a partial examination made in the 

 course of the summer. It was not till the following winter, 

 that an opportunity was afforded for a thorough search, with 

 the permission of the Mayor, the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jun., 

 and with the help of the Superintendent of the Common. 

 The trees were found to have suffered terribly from the ravages 

 of these insects. Several of them had akeady been cut down, 

 as past recovery; others were in a dying state, and nearly all 

 of them were more or less affected with disease or premature 

 decay. Their bark was perforated, to the height of thirty feet 

 from the ground, with numerous holes, through which insects 

 had escaped; and large pieces had become so loose, by the 

 undermining of the grubs, as to yield to slight efforts, and 

 come off in flakes. The inner bark was filled with the bur- 

 rows of the grubs, great numbers of which, in various stages 

 of growth, together with some in the pupa state, were found 

 therein; and even the surface of the wood, in many cases, was 

 furrowed with their irregular tracks. Very rarely did they 

 seem to have penetrated far into the wood itself; but their 

 operations were mostly confined to the inner layers of the 

 bark, which thereby became loosened from the wood beneath. 

 The grubs rarely exceed three quarters of an inch in length. 

 They have no feet, and they resemble the larvae of other spe- 

 cies of Saperda, except in being rather more flattened. They 

 appear to complete their transformations in the third year of 

 their existence. The beetles probably leave their holes in the 

 bark during the month of June and in the beginning of July ; 

 for, in the course of thirty years, I have repeatedly taken them 

 at various dates, from the fifth of June to the tenth of July. 

 It is evident, from the nature and extent of their depredations, 

 that these insects have alarmingly hastened the decay of the 

 elm-trees on Boston Mall and Common, and that they now 

 threaten their entire destruction. Other causes, however, have 

 probably contributed to the same end. It will be remembered 



