444 The American Naturalist. [May, 
that adead and putrid body left in the case would work harm to her 
precious eggs? Anyway she leaves the case.” 
Mr. Garman photographed a member of the cases from different trees, 
as shown on the accompanying plate. ‘Those marked a are from red 
cedar; b, from maple; ¢, from arbor vite ; d, from spruce; and e from 
white pine. 
An extended account of the elm borer (Saperda tridentata) is also 
given. ‘This insect had done serious la 
tal 
injury to some of the largest and finest 
elms in the city of Frankfort. The 
nature of the damage is well-shown in 
the plate reproduced herewith. Wash- 
ing the bark with a mixture of white- 
wash and Paris green is suggested as a 
preventive measure. 
Elm-borer: larva and adult. 
Larval Habits of Brachinus.—Mr. H. F. Wickham records (in 
the’ Canadian Entomologist) finding in northern Iowa the ia Á 
species of Brachinus parasitic on the pupæ of Dineutes assimilis. T . 
larva lies in the cell of its host and extracts the juices from an eee 
made in one of the wing-pads; the maggot-like body is adorned, s 
not supported by six very soft and short legs, which can be of er 
service except perhaps as ‘feelers’ in its dark abode. The p 
animals were carefully watched and examined several tpn ae 
until finally the larger one, having withdrawn nearly all the juices iy 
the pupa and become swollen to an unwieldy size, changed after & J 
or two of resting into a pupa. htin 
“ How the Brachinus gets into the cell of it host, whether broug s 
as a young larva clinging to that of the Dineutes, or deposited A 
egg by the mother isa mystery tome. When small it is more ally 
than when larger grown, and with advanced age becomes gradu sie 
more helpless. In any case the complete adaptation to @ m 
habit is apparent in the whole structure—the soft, julcy pect 
protected by chitinous scutes, the weak legs quite useless for geo 
tory purposes, and the lack of strong locomotive bristles. The Es de 
ance is almost that of some Hymenopteron, not at all resembling 
strong raptoreal larve of the Adephaga in general.” 
im- 
North American Trypetidæ.—Mr. W. A. Snow pA 
portant addition to our knowledge of a little-studied family © 
