[27] Report of the State Entomologist. 123 



previously overlooked by me. The editor, Professor C. V. Kiley, in 

 reply to a correspondent from Wisconsin, who had sent examples of 

 the larvfe to him for identification, after giving its name, states: "We 

 never knew them before to occur in bee-hives; but as they feed on 

 feathers, horn, hoof and other (to us) indigestible substances, it is not 

 surprising that they should also relish wax. Those you sent fed 

 ravenously upon it; and after changing their coats several times, 

 became beetles." 



The present instance brought to notice by Mr. Aspinwall of D. 

 lardarius feeding on wax, is an interesting addition to our knowledge 

 of the insect, for we are now authorized to conclude that the first 

 reported case above quoted, was not, as may have been thought, 

 simply an abnormal manifestation of appetite, but that a larval taste 

 for wax exists which will be gratified whenever the opportunity for 

 so doing offers. 



More recently Miss H. A. Heaton, of Charlton, N. Y., in a letter 

 written to the editor of the Bee-Keeper's Magazine, under date of Sep- 

 tember 22, 1888, has related her experience with D. lardarius as a 

 honey-comb pest. It is as follows : 



I was much interested in the information given in the May Maga- 

 zine with regard to the bacon beetle attacking comb. For several 

 years I have been troubled with the larva3 of this beetle working in 

 combs used for extracting, but as the combs were used each summer 

 the larvae were never permitted to injure them greatly. The combs 

 were kept in a shop formerly occuj^ied by a carpenter, and w.ere 

 always put away in the autumn nicely cleaned by the bees of all 

 adhering honey, and with very few, if any dead bees in the cells. 

 When getting them for use the next summer I would strike each 

 frame on the floor and jar the beetles and larvpe out of the comb. 

 No meat of any kind was kept in the building, and they certainly 

 seemed to thrive on their food — wax or pollen — for they were large 

 and healthy larvae. 



Agrilus ruficollis (Fabr.). 



Tlie Raspberry Guuly-gall Beetle. 

 (Ord. CoLEOPTERA : Fam. BopRESTiciE.) 

 Buprestis ruficollis Fabricius : Mantissa Insectorum, i, 1787, p. 184, No. 85. 

 To an inquiry from St. Joseph's, Mich., of the stage in which the 

 insect that causes the irregular swellings on the raspberry canes 

 passes the winter, and for such other information as would aid in 

 arresting its injuries, the following rej^ly was made: 



