INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 463 



It has also been recorded from West Virginia and the \icinily of Washing- 

 ton, Cincinnati O., and is ])robably generally distributed in tiie northeastern 

 Unitctl States. I)r i'ackard, in his account of tiiis insect, cites a case where 

 beetles were bred from an ash sill used in the construction of a house 

 erected some 19 or 20 years before. It liardly seems possible that this 

 insect could have eNisted diu'ing all these years, still there is no occasion 

 for doubting the authenticity of the report. ' 



Obrium rubrum Xewm. 



Slender, flatteiu'd, tortuous galleries in ash, vio to about }i inch in width, tutting tlie 

 wood largely, are very likely the work of the larva of this species. 



This insect is a flattened, reddish or rufous beetle about '^ inch in 

 length and remarkable for its long, slender antennae. The thoraN is nearly 

 cylindric, with lateral tuberosities and much narrower than the elytra, which 

 are rather coarsely pimctured and thickly clothed with yellowish hairs. 

 The thighs are strongly clubbed. This beetle emerges from an exit liolc 

 a little over ^/,(, inch in diameter. 



The full grown larva is about 's inch in length, slender, tapering 

 gradually from the swollen i)rothoracic segment, and with the body strongly 

 annulate. The mouth parts are inconspicuous and tippetl with dark brown. 

 This larva is nnnarkaljle on account of the ventral and dorsal callosities or 

 leglike processes on the anterior portion of body segments 6, 7, 8 and 9. 

 The resemblance to i^rolegs is very striking though superficial, and on the 

 dorsum of the fifth l)ody segment the .same structure cNists in a much more 

 rudimentary form, though there are no indications of thoracic legs. The 

 work of this liorer in ash is represented on plate v"^. figure 2. 



Distribution. This species is probably widely distributed in the East- 

 ern .States at least, though we have records only of its occurring in Ohio, 

 southwestern Pennsylvania and the District of CoUunbia, aside from its 

 being taken in New York .State. 



Natural enemies. A parasite, kindh' determined b\ l)r .\shmead as 

 Brachistes p h )• m a t o d i s Ashm., was reared from a log infested by 

 this borer. 



