127 
away. Twigs were found by Webster in which eggs had been laid 
as many as eight separate times, with the usual number of girdlings 
in each case, with the necessary consequence that only one of the 
larvae hatching could survive. "Late in May," he says, "I began to 
find sections of amputated twigs on the ground underneath the 
trees, which showed plainly that this amputation was not the result 
of a first visit of a female intent on oviposition. Ordinarily, the 
tip of the twig is severed far enough back to include from two to 
four or five leaves, and this amputated portion is free from egg or 
larva. But I now began to find, scattered under the infested trees, 
pieces of twigs which had been cut off at both ends, and those freshly 
dropped contained in most cases either an egg or a newly hatched 
larva, while in the older, withered ones there was more often a very 
young larva, dead. As the season of oviposition advanced, these 
secondary amputations, repeated perhaps five or six times on the 
same twig, became more numerous, and an examination of the trees 
disclosed the fact that nearly every twig contained at least one egg 
or larva, and that some of them contained several. For those fe- 
males that had yet to oviposit, there were no twigs not preoccupied, 
and fully five per cent, of the amputated pieces on the ground con- 
tained a larva or an egg. It became clear that the mortality result- 
ing from this repeated oviposition and amputation was greater than 
that from all other causes combined."* 
Another seeming error of instinct is the senseless hostility which 
these beetles exhibit towards each other, if one may judge by their 
conduct in confinement. "If a male and female were confined at 
all closely," says Webster, "they would instantly attack each other 
with such ferocity that within a few moments they would be roll- 
ing helplessly about among fragments of legs and antennae, only the 
basal portions of these remaining attached to their bodies. It was 
found wholly impossible to transport living individuals without giv- 
ing them ample quarters, and I was finally forced to give each a box 
or vial to itself. "f 
Distribution. 
Although the first and much the most serious infestation was 
found at Decatur, in Macon county, elms at Henry, Princeton, 
Aurora, and Rock Island were found by Mr. Webster containing 
Ohcrea larvae in August, 1903. It was not certain, however, that 
these belonged to our species, since Ohcrea triptinctata likewise in- 
*Bull. 111. state Lab. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII., Art. I., pp. 10 and 11. 
tibid., p. 10. 
