114 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 



EupgALis siixuta: — a, larva; b, ]>upa; c, J'e 

 male beetle; d, head of nwleilo.;/— / 



erally distributed over the States and in Canada, and is entomolo- 

 ^'''"•■^'^ gically very interesting, as being the 



only species of its family occurring so 

 far north, and as belonging to a group 

 the true position of which has long 

 perplexed systematists. This perplex- 

 ity is, in a* great measure, due to the 

 fact that its larval structure has re- 

 mained unknown, and that another 

 larva has been mistaken for it. Dr. 

 Harris,* as early as 1838, gave a very 

 full account of the insect, but the larva 

 l;;;iyofSiiaSiio;r''"''"^ he describes as belonging to it, 



and which he received from the Eev. L. W. Leonard, of Dublin, N. 

 H, differs very materially from the genuine larva, and I am now able, 

 principally through the kindness of Mr. Wm. R. Howard, of Forsyth, 

 Mo., from whom I first received specimens of its early stages, to give 

 the correct natural history of this curious Brenthian, and to show how 

 the original mistake of Mr. Leonard and Dr. Harris came about. 



As will be seen by the accompanying illustrations, the insect is 

 distinguished by its elongate body, and especially by the snout pro- 

 jecting from the head in a straight line in front. In the male (Fig. 

 31, d) this snout is broad and flat, spreading toward the end, where it 

 is surmounted with two powerful jaws. In the female it is narrow and 

 cylindrical, generally longer, and not enlarged at the end. It varies 

 considerably, particularly in the males, both as to length and breadth. 

 The color of -the species is mahogany-brown, the thorax smooth and 

 highly polished, and the wing-covers strongly furrowed, shaded with 

 deeper brown, and marked with narrow tawny-yellow spots. The spe- 

 cies varies greatly in sizg, some specimens scarcely measuring i^ oth- 

 ers more than V inch in length ; but contrary to the general rule with 

 insects, the males are almost invariably the largest. The males of the 

 Brenthians are known to fight desperately for the female, and, as has 

 been remarked by Mr. A. R. Wallace,! it is interesting, " as bearing 

 on the question of sexual selection, that in this case, as in the stag- 

 beetles, where the males fight together, they should be not only bet- 

 ter armed, but also much larger than the females." 



The eggs are deposited during the months of May and June, and 

 perhaps later, the female boring a cylindrical hole with her slender 

 snout, and therewith pushing her egg to the bottom of the hole, as is 



* See Ins. Inj. to Veg. p. 07. 



+ The Malay Archipelago, p. 482. 



