March. ijo2.| HeRRICR: L]FK-Ha I'.ITS OF OnCIDERES TeXANA. 19 



the eggs and to provide suitable food for the larvae. In one case 

 where sufficient wood was left for circulation of sap, the eggs were 

 found crushed between the bark and wood. 



Dr. Riley infers that the twigs are cut off by O. cingulata to keep 

 them on the damp ground where the eggs will remain moist. In the 

 case of O. texana I found several branches containing one-year-old 

 larvae that had lodged in the branches of a thick bushy oak from 

 which they had been cut. These were healthy vigorous larvae and 

 changed to pupae later. Of course these larvae had never touched the 

 ground. 



History of a Single Pair. — During the autumn of 1901, Mr. Brodie 

 had the good fortune to be able to observe continuously day by day 

 the work of a single pair and the report is here given in his own 

 words. " Possibly the work started September 28th. 1 found them 

 November 5th. Then three branches had been cut. Day by day the 

 work went on. The trees they selected were in a nursery row — three- 

 year-old pecans. Nearly all the eggs were deposited in the two-year- 

 old wood. The whole season's work was limited to an area of twenty- 

 five feet by four feet. Six trees were used and, from these, nineteen 

 branches were cut. In the nineteen branches I counted a deposit of 

 one hundred and fifty-seven eggs. These insects remained in com- 

 pany over three weeks. Then the male disappeared and no other 

 returned. Possibly his season of usefulness was passed or he met an 

 enemy. One feature that taxed my patience, was their selection of 

 the best budded trees in preference to the seedling trees standing with 

 them in the same row. December 15th we had a sharp freeze and I 

 surmised that her life work might be ended. Sure enough I found her 

 near the root of the tree on the ground frozen stiff. I held her some 

 time in my warm hand but there was no recovery. Then I held her 

 in my clasped hands and breathed on her ' the breath of life,' and she 

 once more became a living beetle. I left her as comfortable as possi- 

 ble but the shock was too great for her recovery. December i6th we 

 had 14° to 16° freezing and that morning I found a dead beetle." 



