REPORT: OF THE. ENTOMOLOGIST. 249 
This beetle has for many years been known in Europe, and in Ger- 
many more particularly, where, as appears from recorded accounts of its 
manner of working, its habits are exactly as I have found them in this 
country. Mr. Pfarrer Schmitt, of Mainz, has given* what is perhaps 
the best account of this insect on record. Miiller, who was the first to 
describe the species,t came to the conclusion that its natural food-plant 
was the Trifolium pratense, and that its work was the principal cause of 
the death of cultivated clover during the third year. 
Mr. Schmitt, while accepting the first proposition, was inclined to 
doubt the truth of the second, and considered that the cause of the 
death of the plant the third year was due to the short duration of life of 
the plant and the mode of cultivation in Germany. 
In that country clover is sown among wheat, and during the first year 
is cut with thelatter. In the second year the clover is cut once for fod- 
der, and a second timefor seed. By this treatment, argues Schmitt, the 
clover plant is weakened, and suffers from exposure, rain, and frost, its 
roots begin to decay, and the plant usually does not survive a third 
summer. The nature of the soil may also have some influence. 
Nordlingert states that the species is found in the roots of Lartiwm 
scoparium, while Kaltenbach § includes Medicago sativa among the plants 
whose roots it affects. 
While the facts which I have been able to learn in relation to the in- 
sect’s work in this country confirm the views of Miiller rather than those 
of Schmitt, yet it is undoubtedly true that this beetle flourishes most in 
the roots of plants that have been injured and that have already begun 
to decay—bearing out in this respect the well-known habits of other 
species of its family which are known to prefer the bark of trees and 
the woody stems of plants that are sickly from one cause or another. 
_ I have found the insect in all three stages of larva (Plate V, Fig. 2, b), 
pupa (c), and adult (d) up to the time of frost, though the perfect beetles 
at this season very greatly predominate. The insect hibernates in any 
of these three stages, and continues propagating as soon as spring opens, 
the beetles issuing from the ground and pairing during the early spring 
months. The female then instinctively bores into the crown of the root, 
eating a pretty large cavity, wherein she deposits from four to six pale, 
whitish, elliptical eggs. These hatch in about a week, and the young 
larve at first feed inthe cavity made by the parent. After a few days, 
however, they begin to burrow downward, extending to the different 
branches of the root. The galleries made in burrowing run pretty reg- 
ularly along the axis of the roots (Plate V, Fig. 2, aaa), and are filled 
with brown excrement. The pupa is formed in a smooth cavity, gener- 
ally at the end of one of these burrows, and may be found in small 
numbers as early as September. 
It is the custom in Western New York to sow the clover in spring 
on ground already sown to fall wheat. This is generally done while the 
snow is yet on the ground or while the frost is disappearing, one peck 
of seed being used to the acre. The clover is allowed to go to seed in 
the fall and usually produces but little. During the second year one 
crop of hay and a crop of seed are obtained. It is during this second 
year that the injury of the Hylesinus is most observed. 
No experiments have yet been made with a view of preventing the 
*Stettiner Ent. Zeit., 1844, pp. 389-397. 
+ Avis sur une espéce de Bostriche qui détruit les racines du Tréfle des pres. Mém, 
Soc. Dép. Mt. Tonerre. I, p. 47 (1807). 
¢ Die Kleinen Feinde der Landwirtschaft, 1869, p. 234. 
§ Die Pflanzenfeinde, etc., p. 121. 
