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fests the elm. The same may be said of a trifling injury to white 
elms noticed in Urbana in June, 1905, where tufts of leaves borne 
on the tips of twigs neatly cut off after the manner of the elm twig- 
girdler were occasionally picked up from the grass. Some of the 
lea\-es were also eaten along the veins after the manner of these 
beetles. 
There can be no doubt, however, that our species is responsible 
for a serious injury to white elms detected at Moweaqua, in Shelby 
county, 111., in May, 1905, by Mr. W. N. Dawson, a commercial 
traveler of Decatur. Noticing accounts of the Decatur observa- 
tions in the local press, he wrote to the office that he had discovered 
the work of the elm twig-girdler upon trees surrounding the Illi- 
nois Central station at Moweacjua, inclosing with his letter some of 
the girdled twigs. Wdien ^^Ir. Taylor visited this place. May 25, 
adults of Oberea uhnicola were still within their pupal cells, from 
which they were preparing to escape by pushing out the plug at the 
end. From under a single elm-tree about sixty feet in height, near 
the railway station, one hundred and sixteen girdled twigs were 
picked up, and nine other elms, all very large, were found infested. 
It is very probable, in fact, that this species is generally distributed, 
and that its discovery at Decatur was due to its extraordinary and 
abnormal abundance there. 
Natural Checks on Multiplication. 
Two insect species were found at Decatur preying on the elm 
twig-girdler, one a minute hymenopterous parasite, Bndcnis liz'idiis, 
and the other a predaceous grub of a beetle, Cyniatodcro balfcafa. 
The larvae of both these insects devour the Oberea larva in its bur- 
row. Of seventy-two Oberea larvse contained in elm twigs from 
Decatur and examined July 22, fifteen had been destroyed by the 
hymenopterous parasite, which was present in the burrow as a pupa 
in twelve cases and as a full-grown larva in three. The predaceous 
larva of the beetle was repeatedly found in burrowed elm twigs 
along with dead or mutilated larv'se of Oberea, and living Oberea 
larvae exposed to its attack in the insectary were promptly devoured 
by it. 
Bud ems liz'idiis Ashmead. 
On splitting twigs burrowed by Oberea, "Sir. Taylor frequently 
found, in late June or in July, the young larva dead or wanting, 
and in its place a small white larva, or a dusky pupa 2-3 mm. long 
according to sex, the females being the larger. These pupae yielded, 
