ASH-TREE BORERS. 541 



I think the alder mast be considered the favorite host of the j^geria (Fatua) denu- 

 data, as ash trees in swamps not containing alder are ahnost exempt from their at- 

 tacks, while no clump of alder is without evidence of their work. 



2. Eburia quadrigeminata Say. 

 Order Coleoptera ; family CERAMBYCXDiE. 



Under the heading "A remarkable case of longevity in a longicorn 

 beetle, Eburia quadrigeminata (American Naturalist, xx, p. 1055), Mr. J. 

 McNeil writes as follows : 



On the 11th of July, 1886, I caught at sugar, which had been placed upon apple 

 trees for the purpose of attracting moths, a light brown long-horned beetle, marked 

 with ivory -yellow spots on the elytra. My attention was particularly attracted at 

 this time to the insect on account of a peculiar creaking sound which it began as soon 

 as I picked it up. I had no difficulty in finding that the sound was produced by the 

 rubbing of the posterior margin of the prothorax upon the anterior margin of the 

 mesothorax. The same sound could be made after the insect was dead, by working 

 backward and forward its head and prothorax. Several days after this occurrence 

 I captured a specimen, similar to the first, upon the clothes of a friend, but it disap- 

 peared before I reached home. On the 17th of July I found a third specimeu on a 

 tree but a few feet distant from that upon which I discovered the first specimen ; 

 this individual was also evidently attracted by the sugar. Five days later, July 22, 

 1886, another specimen came into my possession under much more remarkable cir- 

 cumstances. Dr. Boyd, of Dublin, Wayne County, Ind., called my attention as I was 

 walking along the street, and at once proceeded to remove two small corks with 

 which he had closed two openings in the door-sill of his office. He then requested 

 me to explain what had made the tunnels that evidently extended some distance into 

 the sill. In reply to my questions, he stated that his attention had been called to 

 the freshly made openings early in the morning; at that time the holes were much 

 smaller, and were ragged around the edges. These rough edges he had smoothed 

 with a knife so he could stop them tightly with corks. A short time after he 

 made the discovery mentioned, his attention was attracted by a buzzing noise which 

 came from one of the tunnels. This he put an end to by pouring chloroform into the 

 opening, and then plugging it up with a cork. There had been no sound of life from 

 the other tunnel, but he had closed it in the same manner. Upon hearing this I re- 

 moved the cork from the tunnel where the sound had been heard, and in a moment 

 dragged out by its antennae a beetle, similar to those whose capture I have already 

 described. This beetle is Eburia quadrigeminata Say. 



A closer examination of the tunnels in Dr. Boyd's door-step showed that the exter- 

 nal openings were in the middle of the length and breadth of an ash door-sill and 

 about 4 inches distant from each other. The size of the tunnels increased rapidly 

 within until the diameter was three or more times as great as at the exit. They ex- 

 tended downward and backward, respectively, 3 and 4 inches. The sill was of 

 painted ash and it as well as the whole building rested directly upon a solid brick 

 foundation. After having completed the above observations, I did not hesitate long 

 in coming to the conclusion that the eggs which had produced this beetle and it» 

 fellow that had made good its escape were laid in the green wood in the tree. In 

 response to my questions, Dr. Boyd made the statement that the building was erected 

 in the spring of 1867. This would make these insects not less than nineteen, and 

 probably twenty or more, years old, since the timber was dry when put into the 

 house. 



Professor Thomas states that its larva lives and bores in the honey-locust (Gledit- 

 schia triacantJius Linn.), and from this fact it gets its name of the honey-locust borer. 



The beetle. — Body entirely pale yellowish brown ; antennae hardly more obviously 

 hairy on the basal joints than on the others ; thorax with two black tubercles above, 



