Insects Bred from American Larch 63 
The beetles were taken from one to five feet above the 
ground. This was as far up as the tree had been peeled. 
They were found under much the same conditions in apple 
and horsechestnut wood. 
It is believed that the beetles may possibly remain in the 
wood for a period of two or more years. At least they have 
been observed in a horsechestnut tree for two consecutive 
years. Evidently the insect lives in a somewhat social or 
colonial manner, as several groups of three or four were 
found in the enlar ged burrows. The galleries are about 1.5 
mm. to 2 mm. in “diameter and extend irregularly up and 
down the tree with many transverse galleries connecting the 
longitudinal ones. Occasionally wider galleries occur. In 
the mstances observed the wood was more or less riddled by 
the galleries. The eggs are probably laid in the primary 
gallery and the larve bore out into the wood in all directions. 
Adults have been taken from larch February 26, April 28; 
larve on April 28. Blatchley (1916, pp. 545) has taken 
the adults June 15 to July 30, beneath bark and by sifting 
rotten wood. 
It is quite probable that Serropalus barbatus often pre- 
cedes S. brevis, especially in weakened trees, and its galleries 
make the wood a more suitable breeding place not only for 
this cossoninid but for other forms living in decaying wood. 
It is also possible that Asemum moestum may precede S. 
brevis in a ike manner. Both of these forms would bear a 
very important relation to the curculionid by preparing the 
wood for its purposes. 
Insects actually associated with S. brevis were Dryoph- 
thorus americanus, Tenebrio tenebriodes, and Adelocera 
brevicornis. These all from dead wood which had begun to 
decay and which was more or less riddled with insect bur- 
rows. SS. brevis may be preceded by any one of a great 
variety of forms atacking the dying or newly killed tree. 
It seems to prefer rather dry, punky wood, and perhaps for 
this reason seldom or ever enters the wood still covered by 
the bark. When it is preceded in the wood by the larve of 
such forms as Leptura vittata, Asemum moestum, or Serro- 
