345 



tiaux (Ami. Sue. Eut. de France, 1889) record CiUa'us linearis Er. as 

 occurring in decaying aroid flowers in tbe island of Guadeloupe. 



In the Montserrat aroid, having the spadix entirely within a tiask- 

 shaped spathe,* the iudoresceuce is i)roterogynous. Whether or not 

 some of the female liowers remain receptive at the time the i)ollen is 

 released by the Macrostola beetles, I am unable to say. Even were this 

 the case, it seems likely that, as in J)racunenlnH vuUjuris Schott and some 

 other aroids in which the fact has been ascertained, the pollen is not 

 potent to effect fertiliL;ation within the inflorescence, and setting of the 

 fruit follows only upon the introduction of foreign i)ollen froii without. 

 T^pon this assumption, taken in connection with the ob,>^erved facts, the 

 following summary may be given of the successive stages in the flower- 

 ing of this plant: 



1. Female flowers at base of spadix receptive, aud immersed in liquid ; upper por- 

 tion of spadix male ; flowers immature, and tightly enrolled by inner fold of spathe. 



2. Entrance of a single pair of Macrostola beetles, bringing with them upon their 

 bodies the pollen from an older inflorescence; fertilization of the receptive female 

 flowers by tlie foreign pollen, aided by the mucus of the plant. 



3. Maturing of the anther cells in upper portion of the spadix, and pollen released 

 by the Macrostolas and their off'sprijig. 



4. Seal of the inflorescence broken by the ripening of the rot-fungus; entrance of 

 saprophagous insects and destruction of tbe spathe; Macrostolas ejected, bearing 

 pollen upon their bodies to enter and fertilize other flower cases. 



5. Ripening of the fruiting portion of the spadix in open air, aud dissemination 

 of the exposed seed. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE TWIG GIRDLER. 



(Oncideres cingiilata Say.) 

 By Theo. H. Schkffkh, Lawrence, Kaiis. 



The beetle usually known as the hickory twig girdler, injurious also 

 to the persimmon among forest trees and the apple and jiear in 

 orchards, has appeared in eastern Kansas, as a depredator upon the 

 white elm ( Ulmus amerieana). So far has it departed from its known 

 and recorded preference t that hickory groves and orchards in this 

 vicinity show no signs of its work, while elms, both in natural groves 

 and in yards and parks, are more or less affected. 



*The material at hand is unfortunately insuflicient for the proper classiflcation of 

 the plant, and the species can not be determined. It is apparently a Philodendron 

 belonging to Engler's section IV of this genus, as given in his classification of aroids 

 (Die uatiirlichen Pflanzen-Familien, Endlicher u. Prantl; Aracese von A. Engler, 

 p. 134). 



tNoTE. — Since writing the above my attention has been called to a short article in 

 the Kansas Horticultural Ke])ort for 1882, in which this insect is spoken of in con- 

 nection with its work iipon elms. — T. H. S. 



It is also mentioned as attacking elm by Professor Riley, in the third volume of 

 the American Fntomolodi-st (p. 297, December, 1880). See also First Report South 

 Carolina Agr. Exp. St. 1888-'89, pp. 40, 41.— Ed, 



