74 ' NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The beetle, however, does not always select the smaller canes 

 for oviposition, sometimes choosing those from iH to 2 inches in 

 diameter, when the larvae pursue a different course, for, instead of 

 boring up and down, they take a transverse direction and girdle the 

 stem Vz to V2 its circumference, causing a rough annular swelling and 

 frequently killing the cane. 



The head of the pupa is toward the opening from which the 

 perfect insect emerges. Salix concolor appears to be its 

 natural food, and, did this beetle confine its attention to this 

 shrub, it could hardly be classed as injurious; but in the vicinity 

 of Providence R. I., at least, it has inflicted considerable dam- 

 age on the common poplar. Two parasites, Pimpla pedalis 

 and a species of Bracon, have been reared from the galls of this 

 insect by Professor Davis. 



Description. Black, finely punctulate, and with numerous 

 small, shallow punctures ; entirely covered by a dense gray or 

 yellowish gray pubescence except at the top of the thorax, where 

 it is less dense, this giving it a darker appearance and increasing 

 the effect of the lateral band; a slight median line on the thorax; 

 antennae black, annulated with gray. Var. unicolor n. var. 

 [pi. 6, fig. 15]. Like type, but pubescence uniformly dark gray 

 and finer. The punctures are much more numerous than the 

 type and are apt to be confluent. This variety is the eastern form 

 and is named as we believe it to be the ancestral form of the species. 1 



Distribution. This insect has been thus recorded : Sante Fe 

 N. M. [LeConte], Cliftondale Mass. [Henshaw], Buffalo [Zesch- 

 Reinecke], Providence R. I. [Packard], Allegheny Pa., Texas, 

 Michigan, Canada and New York [Hamilton], New Jersey 

 [Smith], Ohio [Kellicott] ; rare [Provancher], Canada, Massa- 

 chusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New 

 Mexico [Leng-Hamilton] Arizona. 



a This insect is often confused in collections with moesta and 

 Mecas inornata. The type form is from New Mexico, and the 

 same form has been received from Arizona. Var. concolor is from 

 the other localities above and also from Idaho, from which an inter- 

 mediate form has been received. There is no question of their being 

 forms of one species, the change being due entirely to climatic influences. 

 It is very close to t u 1 a r i . 



