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THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



not before received them from so far south, and 

 would recommend Mr, Heard to get rid of the 

 trees that are already dead, severely prune the 

 rest, burn tlie prunings and then apply flax-seed 

 oil or brush the trunk and twigs over rapidly and 

 lightly with kerosene. If carefully done this 

 will not injure the trees materially and will be 

 sure death to the scale-insects. 



The Cedar Beetle. — I send you two speci- 

 mens of an insect that is very abundant here upon 

 the Arbor-vitae and Red Cedar trees, eating the 

 bark from the small branches and twigs. This 

 insect has already destroyed a large number of 

 the above named trees in this part of the country, 

 and still continues its ravages. Please tell me 

 what you know about this pest. — P. B. Fuisen, 

 La Grange, Tex. 



The small beetle, about one-tenth of an inch 

 long, with dark brown, rough wing-cases, is an 

 old and well known pest of various kinds of ever- 

 green trees. It is the Hylurgits dcntatus Sa)', or, 

 according to a recent revision of the Scolytidic of 

 the United States by Dr. J. LeConte, Phlaosinus 

 dentatus Say. It belongs to a very destructive 

 family of insects, as the Scolytidit are mainly bark- 

 beetles and wood-borers, and instances are re- 

 corded where they have destroyed extensive 

 forests in a few years. The Toothed Hylurgus, 

 or Cedar-bark beetle, has long been known to 

 attack the Red Cedar (jfuiiipenis virginiand) and 

 the Arbor-vitae {Thuja ocddeiitalis), and it no 

 doubt infests other closely allied species of the 

 Coniferae. Harris states "that the female bores 

 a cylindrical passage beneath the bark of the Ce- 

 dar, dropping her eggs at short intervals as she 

 goes along, and dies at the end of her burrow 

 when all her eggs are laid. The grubs hatched 

 from these proceed in feeding nearly at right 

 angles, forming on each side numerous parallel 

 furrows, smaller than the central tube of the fe- 

 male. They complete their transformations in 

 October, and eat their way through the bark, 

 which will then be seen to be perforated with 

 thousands of little round holes, through which 

 the beetles escape." The description of the 

 habits of this insect as given by Dr. Harris is 

 applicable to several other species of Seolj'tus, 

 and it is just possible that the one he describes is 

 not the P. dentatus ; besides he says nothing of 

 the beetles feeding on the bark, which the one 

 under consideration evidently does, to the great in- 

 jury of the trees it infests. We hope you will make 

 further observations as to the habits of this insect, 

 and remove the bark from infested trees, both 

 dead and dying, and see to what extent they bore 

 under the bark ; also note the form and extent of 

 their excavations. — A. S. F. 



Chrysalides supposed to be those of Aletia. 



— I inclose in a small tin box, accompanying 

 this letter, some cocoons ploughed up to-day in 

 my cotton field here where there were Cotton 

 worms last year, which resemble the plexus of 



that insect. They are somewhat bleached by 

 remaining under ground so long. This maybe 

 considered a fair test, if they should come out of 

 their cover. If none of them bring forth the 

 Cotton miller then they are not perpetuated in 

 that form. I gathered these myself by following 

 the plow a few rounds. Please acquaint me with 

 the result. — William J. Jones, Virginia Point, 

 Tex. 



The chrysalides sent by our correspondent are 

 not those of Aletia but belong to other species of 

 night-flj'ing moths, one the parent of a common 

 Cut-worm {Agrotis iiiermis), the other Prodenia 

 lineatella Harvey, the parent of a worm that is quite 

 commonly found in cotton fields. 



Apple-twig borer. — T. V. M., Deiiison, Tex. 

 — The beetles you send, boring during the month 

 of February in the twigs of your apple trees, are 

 the common Apple-twig horer {A mphieeriis bicaii- 

 diitiis) of which you will find an account, with 

 figures, on pp. 50-51. The reasons why you 

 failed to find the larvse of this beetle in the twigs 

 are also given there. 



Clover-weevil. — W. IV. P., IVatei-'ille, Ohio. 

 — The weevil you refer to in your letter of Feb. 

 16, which does considerable damage to clover in 

 the eastern part of your State, by workin in the' 

 seed and reducing it to a mere shell, cannot be 

 the Clover Root-borer {Hylesiitus trifolii) of 

 which we gave an account in our Report to the 

 Department of Agriculture, because this latter 

 confines its work to the roots and to the stem 

 immediately above the ground. Without seeing 

 specimens it is impossible for us to say anything 

 definite about your species, as there are several 

 "weevils" known to infest clover seeds. We 

 shall be glad to receive specimens. 



Beetles from Northwest Territory. — John D. 

 Evans, Belleville, Ontario. — The Coleoptera from 

 Great Northwest Ter., near Manitoba, are No. i, 

 Cicindela montana Lee. No. 3, Cic purpurea, var. 

 Andn/>onihec. No. 4, Cic ptirpt/rea, gieenv:iTiety. 

 No. 7, Cie lepida Dej. No. 12, Calosoma obsole- 

 luni Say. No. 16, Carabtis tccdattis Fabr. No. 

 18, Calosoma moniliatum Lee. No. 20, Platynus 

 mieans Men. No. 22, Platynus niolestus Lee. 

 No. 37, Amara jacobinit Lee. No. 49, Amara 

 fallax Lee. No. 54, Amara terrestris Lee. No. 

 65, Bembidium imprcssum Fabr. No. 216, Asida 

 politaSay. No. 21s, Pleodes opaea Sa.y. No. 217, 

 Eleodes obsoleta Say. No. 211, Eleodes hirtilabris 

 Say. No. 214, Eleodes extricata Say. No. 213, 

 Eleodes tricostata Say, No. loi , Quedius fulgidus 

 Fabr. No. 118, Coecinella s-notata Kirby. No. 

 132, Aphodius occidentalis Horn. No. 136, Di- 

 ehelonycha Backii Kirby. No. 150, Corymbites 

 morulus Lee. No. 160, Photinus borealis Rand. 

 No. 162, Photinus ttigricans Say. No. 196, Dis- 

 onyeha collaris Fabr. No. 182, Chrysomela multi- 

 punctata Say. No. 203, Graptodera — . No. 230 

 Cantharis A'utalli Sav. — A. S. F. 



