Report of the State Ej'Vtomologist 251 



The larva, Fig. 12, with others, was found within an opening in the 

 trunk of an oak, in the midst of a mass of woody debris. One having 

 transformed to the pupa, gave out the imago in about a month. 

 Later, in enlarging the opening, two pupse of males (Figs. 13, 14 and 

 15) were found, inclosed in a large (une enorme) cocoon formed of the 

 detritus in which the larvie had lived, smooth on the interior, and of 

 a thickness not less than a centimetre.* 



In the same oak, and associated with the above, were thirty or 



thirty-five larvse of the closely allied Strategus, and several of Mallodon 



angustatum. 



Feeding- Habits of the Beetle. 



In the notice of this insect in the Fifth Report on the Insects of New 

 York, referring to its feeding habits, Mr. G. E. Murrell is quoted as 

 stating : 



When feeding on the ash, they place themselves longitudinally on a 

 smooth limb, and, rising to the full extent of their legs, move their 

 entire body backward and forward like a plane, using several chisel- 

 like projections on the under side of the head for cutting — stopping 

 the motion as soon as the alburnum is reached. 



In comment upon the above, it was intimated that further informa- 

 tion was desirable as to whether the beetle preferred the bark to the 

 leaves, and if it consumed, harmlessly, only the outer bark, or injuri- 

 ously, also the alburnum beneath. 



This information has been supplied in a subsequent communication 

 from Mr. Murrell, in which he has written as follows : 



I inclose you portions of an ash limb, planed by the beetles, from 

 which you can see that they feed on the alburnum, and the size of the 

 shaving that they take at a stroke. They do not eat the leaves, but 

 attack limbs from three inches in diameter down to the smallest 

 twigs. 



I can give no information as to habits below ground, but in 

 the autumn the ground beneath the trees will be covered with the 

 adult dead, and the ground perforated with holes next to the tree- 

 trunk, f 



From specimens of the wood sent, the "shavings" cut by the beetles 

 appear to be from one and one-half inch to two inches in length. From 

 Mr. Murrell's statement it may be inferred that the outer bark is first 

 planed or scraped off and rejected, exposing the alburnum or sap- 



* A correspondent of Dr. Hamilton has represented these cocoons as " oblong cases 

 about three to four inches long and three inches in diameter, composed of the rotted 

 wood in which they were imbedded." 



t Mr. B. D. Walsh believed that such " holes around the roots of young ash trees " on 

 Long Island, N. Y., were made by the large black Khinoeeros beetle, Xyloryctes Satyrus 

 Fabr., which were found near them, the larvae of which live underground and feed on 

 the roots (American Entomologist, i, 1868, p. 60). 



