132 Psyche [October 



NOTES ON EUSTROPHUS B ICO LOR FABR., BRED 

 FROM FUNGI (COLEOPTERA) . 



By Harry B. Weiss, 



New Brunswick, N. J. 



This species, which according to Smith^ occurs throughout New 

 Jersey from September until the following June, was recently 

 bred from larvae found feeding in Pleurotus sapidus^ at Monmouth 

 Junction, N. J., on May 30 and in Polyporus squamosus^ at Union, 

 N. J., on May 20. The larvae collected at Monmouth Junction 

 became full grown during the first week of June and pupated, this 

 stage requiring about one week. The infested fungi which were 

 kept in glass beakers dried out considerably and the larva? left 

 them and pupated in the bottoms of the containers. It is, there- 

 fore, not known where pupation takes place under natural con- 

 ditions. As the fungi were more or less destroyed by the larvae, 

 it seems likely that the quiescent stage is passed in the soil or under 

 bark. 



Pleurotus sapidus which belongs to the family Agaricacece is a 

 common saprophytic form occurring on dead, deciduous wood and 

 is one of the edible species closely resembling Pleurotus ostreaius, 

 the oyster mushroom. Polyporus squamosus is a member of the 

 family Polyporaceoe and occurs on living, deciduous trees accord- 

 ing to Overholts^ and on dead parts of living, deciduous trees ac- 

 cording to Stevens.^ Stevens also states that the mycellium causes 

 a white rot of nut, ornamental and fruit trees particularly maple, 

 pear, oak, elm, walnut, linden, ash, birch, chestnut and beech. 



In the case of Pleurotus sapidus, the larvae fed on the context and 

 stipe, completely riddling them. In Polyporus squamosus both 

 the context and tubes were eaten. Other species of fungi on which 

 adults only were found are Polyporus betulinus, Princeton Junc- 

 tion, N. J., April 24; Polyporus versicolor, Riverton, N. J., May 5; 

 and Doedalia confragosa, Kingston, N, J., May 8; all belonging to 

 the Polyporaceoe. Up to the present, however, larvae have been 

 found only in the two species mentioned in the first part of these 

 notes. 



1 Smith, J. B., Insects of New Jersey (N. J. State Mus. Rept. 1909). 



' Identified by Mr. Erdman West. 



'Overholts, L. 0., Polyporaceae of Mid. Wes. U. S. (Wash. Univ. Studies, III, I, 1, p. 17). 



* Stevens, F. L., Fungi Which Cause Plant Disease (1913). 



