59 



8. The Northern Brenthian, Eupsalis Minuta, (Drury). 

 Family Brenthid.e : — 



Order Coleoptera ; 



This curious beetle is of a rich mahogany brown color ; the wing-covers are clouded 

 with darkish brown deeply furrowed and marked with narrow yellow spots ; the thorax 

 or neck is smooth and polished and in shape somewhat resembles an egg, the small end 

 nearest the head. The snout or beak projects straight in front, an exception to the gen- 

 eral form, most weevils having it curved or bent abruptly down. It measures from a 



Fig. 40. 



quarter to over half an inch in length, the males generally being the largest. (Fig 40 

 represents the insect in all its stages.) 



The female bores a hole in the bark and dropping an egg in it, pushes it well in with 

 her beak. It requires about a day to make a puncture and deposit the egg. During the 

 time the puncture is being made the male stands guard, occasionally assisting the female 

 in extracting her beak ; this he does by stationing himself at a right angle with her body 

 and by pressing his heavy prosternum against the tip of her abdomen ; her stout fore-legs 

 serving as a fulcrum and her long body as a lever. When the beak is extracted the fe- 

 male uses her antennae for freeing the pinchers or jaws of bits of wood or dust, the 

 antennae being furnished with stiff hairs and forming an excellent brush. Should a 

 strange male approach, a heavy contest at once ensues, and continues until one or the 

 other is thrown from the tree. The successful party then takes his station as guard. ( W. 

 It. Howard in Eiley's 6th Report.) Attacks various species of oak, the larvae boring into 

 the solid wood. 



9. The Gray-sided Oak Weevil, PandeUtejus hilaris. Order Coleoptera J 

 Family Curculionid^e : — 



" A little pale-brown beetle, variegated with grey upon the sides. Its snout is 

 short, broad and slightly furrowed in the middle. There are three blackish stripes on the 

 thorax, between which are two of a light grey color ; the wing-covers have abroad stripe 

 of light grey on the outer side, edged within by a slender blackish line, and sending two 

 short oblique branches almost across each wing-cover, and the fore-legs are larger than 

 the others. The length of this beetle varies from one-eighth to one-fifth of an inch. The 

 larva lives in the trunks of the white oak, on which the beetles may be found about the 

 last of May or beginning of June." (Harris). 



10. The Oak Bark Weevil, Magdalis olyra. (Herbst). Order Coleoptera ; 

 Family Curculionid^e : — 



Dr. Packard states that he found this species on the red oak "occurring in all 

 stages under the bark in May, transforming into a black weevil with the surface of the 

 body punctured, the thorax with a lateral tubercle on the front edge, while the tarsi are 

 brown, with whitish hairs, £ inch long. 



