180 BULLETIN 407 



orange post, one and one-half feet long and four inches in diameter, together 

 with a complaint that a worm was destroying many fence posts of this 

 kind of timber. The insect causing the damage was the hickory borer, 

 and, in all, twenty-seven adults emerged from this one piece of wood. 



Hopkins (1898), referring to the developing of broods for three years 

 in succession in hickory by the Cerambycidae, mentioned the hickory 

 borer as one of them. He supposed that the late arrivals were the result 

 of retarded development, but an examination of the wood showed that 

 new wood was being continually infested. 



Webster and Mally (1898) discussed this insect at length. They 

 described the adult, and gave brief notes on the life history. They talked 

 of the destructive work of the insect on osage-orange fence posts and 

 offered suggestions for the prevention of injury. 



The next discussion of this species was furnished by Felt (1905) who 

 reviewed the history of the insect up to that time, gave notes on the life 

 history, described the adult and larva, and listed the natural enemies 

 attacking it. 



Until 1908 the insect had been called Clytus or Cyllene pictus, which, 

 as has already been stated, was a synonym of Cyllene robiniae. Realizing 

 this mistake, Gahan (1908 a) described the hickory borer as a new species, 

 giving it the name of Cyllene caryae. He further stated that it could be 

 distinguished from Cyllene robiniae as follows: 



From C. robiniae, Forst., which they greatly resemble in markings, C. caryae and 

 its varieties may be distinguished by the thicker, longer, and usually darker-coloured 

 antennae, by the two widely separated yellowish or whitish spots on each of the meta- 

 thoracic episterna, the limitation of the sexual puncturation of the male pronotum to 

 the anterior part, and in having the intercoxal process of the prosternum nearly parallel- 

 sided. 



In C. robiniae the antennae are generally reddish brown in colour, somewhat slender, 

 as a rule distinctly shorter (never longer) than the body in the male; the yellow pubes- 

 cence forms an almost continuous band on each of the metathoracic episterna, when 

 it is broken up into two spots the interval between the spots is always narrow; the 

 intercoxal process of the prosternum widens out posteriorly, its sides being curved 

 instead of almost parallel. The sexual puncturation of the pronotum of the male is 

 much more extensive than in C. caryae ; it covers the greater part of each side, forms an 

 anterior transverse band, and two bands running backwards on the disk, diverging a 

 little behind and dilating each into an oval or rounded spot between the middle and 

 the base; it is similar in character to that occurring in the North- American species 

 C. decora, Oliv., and the Brazilian C. mellyi, Chevr. 



Daecke (1910) mentioned a character which would help to distinguish 

 the two species at a glance. He stated that he was not aware that the 

 upper side of the abdomen of beetles had been used as a means of differ- 

 entiating closely allied species, and accordingly exhibited two specimens 

 of Cyllene pictus and Cyllene robiniae with the wings spread. The upper 

 side of the abdomen of pictus showed reddish, with the anal segment 

 black, while that of robiniae was all black. Both species had two rows 



