200 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
THE ELM TWIG-GIRDLER (ONCIDERES CINGULATUS SAY). 
BY PERCY J. PARROTT, OF MANHATTAN. 
Read before the Academy October 28, 1897. 
Of the insects attacking the elms of this state the Oncideres cingulatus is, 
perhaps, the most interesting if not the most injurious. To all appearances it 
seems to be gradually increasing in numbers and destructiveness. Although it 
is called the elm twig-girdler, its attacks are not confined to the elms, since it 
does considerable damage to the oak, persimmon, and basswood. 
The injury to the trees consists in the girdling and cutting of twigs and small 
branches, so that, sooner or later, they fall to the ground, either of their own 
weight or through the influence of the wind. By the excessive pruning they re- 
ceive the elms become scraggy and unsymmetrical. The insect’s capacity for 
doing damage will be more apparent either after a storm, when the ground be- 
neath the trees will be strewn with a large number of branches, or during the win- 
ter months, when the large number of decaying stubs can readily be seen. 
The girdling of the twigs is the work of the adult female; and it is of such an 
unusual character that it is scarcely to be wondered that many are misled as to 
the cause of it. The male, partly to satisfy his hunger and partly from his de- 
structive habits, busies himself with barking smal! offshoots of the branch to 
be severed or the overlapping twigs of neighboring branches. This work serves 
a good purpose, as it hastens the dying of the twig, which must be brought toa 
state of decay for the ensuing larvie. 
Fie. 1. a, egg deposited at base of offshoot; 
b, larva; ec, pupa; d,¢, showing markings 
on upper and lower side of larva. 
Fic. 4. Oncideres cingulatus (adult). 
The adults are of a brownish-gray color, with a brownish colored band across 
the elytra, which are dotted with numerous tawny spots. They vary from seven- 
to nine-sixteenths of an inch in length—the males being smaller than females. 
About the 1st of August the beetles gnaw a hole through the bark of the chan- 
nel in which they have passed their earlier stages and escape. Upon alighting on 
