INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE OAK. 25 
the soft sap-wood about three inches long and 0.20 inch in diameter, 
this burrow having the shape of a much bent bow ora letter U. It 
changes to a pupa in the same cell, the beetle appearing in July. We 
have also learned that it bores in the chestnut, and for a description and 
figure of the beetle would refer the reader to the account of insects in- 
festing the chestnut. 
11. THE WHITE OAK PHYMATODES. 
Phymatodes variabilis (Fabr.). 
Order COLEOPTERA; family CERAMBYCID. 
Boring the trunk and branches of the white oak, a narrow longicorn larva, chang- 
ing to a reddish thick-bodied longicorn beetle. 
Numerous specimens of this beetle were taken by Mr. Alfred Poorfroma 
white-oak stick, June 20. It is undoubtedly closely similar in its habits. 
and in the form of the larva to the grape Callidium figured in our first 
report on the injurious insects of Massachusetts. This is the Phymatodes 
variabilis, and is one of our more common species of the genus. It is 
closely allied to P. amenus, but is larger, and less coarsely punctured, 
while the antenn are more reddish; the scutellum is concolorous with 
the wing-covers. The body, legs, except the femora, which are blackish 
in the middle, and antenne, are reddish, the tips of the joints of the 
latter dark, and on the back of the prothorax are two black spots, often 
confluent. The head is black. The wing-covers are Prussian blue, 
smooth, finely punctured, with rather thick, fine, black hairs, bent 
downwards. Specimens recently changed from the pupa state are 
brown, and the species is exposed to considerable variation, as its name 
indicates. The male is just half an inch long, the female .60 inch. 
The foregoing description is taken from our second report on the in- 
jurious insects of Massachusetts. We add the following description of 
the larva of a closely allied species, P. amenus, Fig. 5, which injures 
the trunk of the grape. 
The larva of the Grape Phymatodes.—Several years ago I received from Dr. Shimer, of 
Illinois, specimens of the larva, pupa, and adult of this pretty insect (Callidium amenum 
of Say), which is not uncommon in our own State. So much alike are all the borers 
of this family of long-horned beetles, that long and prolix descriptions and carefully- 
drawn figures of the mouth parts (wherein most of the differences lie) are absolutely 
necessary for their identification. 
The larva (Figs. 5, a; 6, head seen from above; c, seen from beneath) has a small head, 
which is a little more than half as wide as the prothoracic segment. This latter, be- 
ing the segment immediately succeeding the head, is half as long as broad, with a 
distinct median suture and four chitinous patches; the two middle ones transverse 
and irregularly oblong, being about twice as broad as long, the outer spots being lon- 
gitudinal to the segment, and oblong in form, or about twice as long as broad. The 
three segments succeeding are of nearly equal length and width, being about half as 
long as the prothoracic segment, and not much narrower. The body decreases in 
width toward the posterior half, which is of equal width throughout, the end sud- 
