THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



^55 



family you have to recur to Schoenherr's Genera 

 et Species Curculionidum, a work which has, how- 

 ever, been superseded in many parts by more 

 recent revisions of numerous genera and sub- 

 families published mostly in various European 

 periodicals. 



There is no work on American Coccidcv, and 

 only a few species have been treated of separately 

 by Harris, Fitch, Walsh, and ourselves. The 

 most complete work on this family is that b}' V. 

 Signoret, in the Annalcs de la Socie'te Ent. de 

 France. 



The government publications on the subject of 

 entomology may be obtained by applying for 

 them to the different Departments under whose 

 auspices the}' are issued. Those of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution are to be had for sale through 

 the Institution. 



Rearing Wood Borers. — Can you give in the 

 correspondence column of 3'our valuable maga- 

 zine information as to the most reliable method 

 of rearing larvae living under the bark or in the 

 wood of trees. I have seen recommended jars 

 of sawdust, but wish to inquire whether the saw- 

 dust should be moist or dry, and whether the jars 

 should be kept closely sealed or not. As I have 

 frequent opportunities of obtaining larva;, and 

 take much interest in the study of Biiprestidie 

 and Cerambycidic, etc., an}' information you can 

 give will be of much value, not only to myself, 

 but to many others, for I know that much diffi- 

 culty is experienced in successfully rearing such 

 larva;. — W. Hague Harrington, Ottawa, Can. 



The most important rule in raising larv?e that 

 live in wood or under bark is to give them in 

 captivity, as far as possible, the same conditions 

 under which they naturally live. They should be 

 handled as little as possible, and if their burrows 

 be split open the wood should be tightly bound 

 together again with fine wire. Larvre living in 

 dry twigs or dry wood are easily raised by put- 

 ting the twigs in a glass jar, or in any cage. 

 Those dwelling in live wood are much more diffi- 

 cult to manage, and there is little hope of rearing 

 them if they are brought in-doors too young. The 

 diflSculty in rearing larvse that live in green wood 

 or under moist bark is due to the impossibility of 

 providing them with the right degree of moisture 

 without inducing mold. Our own experience is 

 adverse to the use of sawdust, the difficulty before 

 alluded to being increased by the use of this sub- 

 stance, which adheres to the larvae and gives 

 them no chance of making a clean burrow. The 

 best way is to watch the infested trees till the 

 larvae are full grown or in the pupa state, then 

 take a few home for confinement, and leave others 

 out-doors, under natural conditions, in case of 

 failure in-doors. We have had very good luck 

 by boxing up in tin, sections of a branch or trunk 

 infested with boring larvie. The tight tin box 

 prevents too rapid desiccation, and secures the 

 beetles when they cut their way out of the wood. 



Descriptive Department. 



ON A NEW TINEID GENUS ALLIED TO 

 PRONUBA, Riley. 



PRODO.XUS,"" NOV. GENUS. 



Agreeing in all respects with Proniiba except 

 in the following important particulars : the basal 

 joint of the maxillary palpi in the 2 is not pro- 

 duced into a spinous tentacle, but is formed 

 just as in the $, , being a mere, blunt-pointed 

 tubercle. 



Larva apodous. 



Prodoxus decipiens, n. sp. — 2 , Average ex- 

 panse only le™™. It has all the characters of 

 Pronuba vKccasella except in lacking the maxil- 

 lary tentacles; in the smaller average size; in the 

 abdomen being less drawn out, but more 

 pointed at tip ; the ovipositor not exposed and 

 probably not exsertile, whereas in Froni/ba the 

 tip of the abdomen is slightly thickened, and the 

 ovipositor readily issues from the truncate end. 

 Colors as in Pronuba, except that the ordinary 

 immaculate white of primaries above may be va- 

 riously spotted, the number of spots ranging from 

 I to 5, or moref usually arranged along the middle 

 in the form of a broad W — a dot representing each 

 angle and each outer tip. When the basal spot 

 alone is absent the four remaining present the 

 figure of a rhomboid ; when it is absent and 

 there is another spot posteriorly, we have the W 

 inverted, but there is no constancy in the rela- 

 tive positions. When a single spot is present 

 there is no regularity in its position, and it may 

 be differently placed on the two opposing wings 

 of the same specimen. There may also be more 

 spots on one wing than on the opposite one, while 

 the thorax is distinctly spotted in one of my spe- 

 cimens, there being two metathoracic, mesial 

 spots, one above the other. 



$. , Average expanse about i™'" less than 5. 

 Distinguished from Pronuba in the sculpture of 

 the genitalia and in their being much more elong- 

 ate and prominent. The clasps extend fully 

 twice as far, are less recurved and have on the 

 lower border 4 small black points or tubercles, 

 nearly equidistant from each other, instead of a 

 single larger point as in Pronuba. 



Described from 25 specimens, either taken in 

 1873 from Yucca flowers at Bluffton, S. C, or 



* Ttpo'So^O?, judging of a thing prior to experience. 



t If the specimens taken from Yucca in Colorado by Mr. 

 Chambers and referred to Pionuda are, as we feel convinced 

 they are (see remarks on page 143 of this number), the 

 Prodojrus in question, then the black spots may be more 

 numerous than we have observed, since he found them to vary 

 from o to 13. Those .additional to the five above referred to 

 are claced around the hind border. In his figures illustrating 

 the spots on his //. c^-fitinrtella and his spotted Pronubas^ we 

 believe Mr. C. has been unfortunate in getting specimens with 

 the basal spot obsolete, in which event the number of spots on 

 each wing may reach 14. At any rate, so far as those figures 

 imply constancy in position of spots, they are erroneous and 

 misleading, and do not accurately illustrate either his own 

 specimens, which I have seen, or the commoner forms which 

 I have reared. Nor are there any essential differences in the 

 roughness of the hair on the vertex, or in the length or scali- 

 ness of the antennae, between Fronuba and Prodoxus, as Mr. 

 C. intimates on the last page of his brochure. The antennse 

 in both are very apt to be naked toward tip, and sometimes 

 nearly the whole length, the scales upon them being very 

 loose. 



