No. 115.] 103 



recorded in Henshaw's check-list of the Coleoptera. A. fimetar- 

 ius (Fabr.), is also a common species which has been observed 

 abundantly, according to Dr. Packard, on the carriage road of 

 Mount Washington. A. fossor (Linn.), has also been introduced 

 from Europe. 



These species pass the winter in the larval and pupal states, to 

 appear in the spring as perfect beetles, which are readily attracted 

 to the newly dropped excrement of horses and cows, and may 

 often be observed swarming over it. 



The Sugar Maple Borer. 



Glycobius speciosus (Say). 



A lady writing from Oanajoharie, New York, complains with 

 much feeling of the ravages of a borer which is rapidly destroying 

 some highly valued maples which shade and adorn her home. 



From the account given of its operations, it is undoubtedly the 

 maple borer above named, which was first described by Say in 1824, 

 in long's Second Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River (ii. p. 

 290), as a rare insect. In addition to the specimen taken on the 

 Wisconsin river during the expedition, one other only was known, 

 which had probably been taken in Pennsylvania and was in the 

 possession of the Philadelphia museum. It was subsequently 

 illustrated in Say's American Entomology Dr. Harris has noticed 

 and figured it in his Insects Injurious to Vegetation giving at the 

 same time one of those popular and graphic descriptions which 

 enable his readers to recognize the insect unaided by illustration, 

 and have lent such a charm to his invaluable report. Of later 

 years the beetle has become comparatively abundant, being found in 

 nearly all collections, and having been frequently written of and 

 figured. It is one of our most beautiful species, as its specific name 

 of speciosus, meaning beautiful, imports, being a member of the 

 family of longicorns (Ce?*ambycidce), measuring over an inch in 

 length, marked witn the strongly contrasting colors of orange and 

 black, and bearing conspicuously a W-like character on the front 

 part of its wing-covers. 



Despite its beauty, it is a highly pernicous insect. Not content, 

 as are most of it associates, with burrowing in dead or sickly 

 vegetation, its attack is usually made on perfectly healthy trees. 



