1898.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 5 



A parallel case has occurred in Java, where Xyleborus destruens 

 Blandf., has taken lately to riddling cacao trees. These have 

 long been cultivated there, and the beetle, a large and well- 

 marked species, can be no new importation, because I possess 

 specimens taken years ago in Java and Gilolo by Wallace. 



A diseased condition of the canes, favored by the accumulation 

 of fermenting trash, was probably the cause of the West Indian 

 outbreak, and X. affinis may yet be common in the Southern 

 States without destroying canes, provided that they are not in a 

 condition to invite its attacks. 



Much has been made of the difficulty of identifying the females 

 of this group, and they have been said to be indistinguishable. 

 As Eichhoff's work was done on the females alone, either that 

 statement is overdrawn, or he divided and characterized a mass 

 of identical examples. For its size, Xyleborus is really one of 

 the easiest of Scolytid genera, and even this group presents no 

 very great difficulty so far as the identification of the majority 

 of examples is concerned ; most of Eichhoff's species can be 

 made out by the descriptions alone. The real difficulties are 

 those of delimitation, which spring from the existence of indi- 

 viduals bridging over the not very wide gaps between allied 

 forms, and are such as are met with in most large genera of the 

 Animal Kingdom. 



The publication of Eichhoff's paper, just referred to, has an- 

 ticipated several of the synonyms of North American Scolytids 

 which I have noted at different times. There are, however, one 

 or two points to be added hereon. 



It is known that some of Zimmermann's and LeConte's names 

 (Tr. Am. Ent. Soc. , Sept., 1868) clash with others of Eichhoff 

 published in 1868 in the " Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift," 

 and the latter have been regarded as prior both by Eichhoff 

 himself and by Mr. Schwarz. This is incorrect; reference to p. 

 xi, or to the original wrappers of the "Zeitschrift" for 1868 

 shows that pp. 177-312, which include Eichhoff's descriptions, 

 were not published till March, 1869. 



Therefore, the names Hylastes opaculus Lee. , H. scabripennis 

 Zimm., and Pityophthorus pullus Zimm., should be retained. 



The generic names Tomicus Latreille (1807 nee 1802) and Xy- 

 loterus Er. (1836) should give place to Ips De Geer (1775) and 



