42 



which are not above a quarter of an inch in diameter, although some- 

 times they are found to attack shoots of double this size. As a rule, 

 the larvae bore nearer to one side than the other, though often but 

 little more than the thin bark is left in the smaller shoots. There is 

 evidence that the species is a perfect pruner, and appears to confine its 

 attack to upright shoots when these are obtainable. A remarkable 

 feature of the work of this larva, and one apparently peculiar to it m 

 its regularity, is its habit of forming on the underside of the twig 

 which it infests a more or less continuous and regular row of circular 

 holes. These are evidently for the purpose of expelling the excrement 

 of the insect as fast as it forms, since no pellets are to be found in the 

 burrows, while numerous bits of excrement may be seen scattered 

 about underneath infested shoots. In a small shoot that has been pre- 

 served (illustrated herewith) in a space just 2 inches in length, an even 

 twenty of these little holes have been formed at very regular intervals 

 and in a nearly straight line, and several other small twigs present a 

 similar appearance. In larger twigs the holes are less regularly placed, 

 are larger, less numerous, and more widely separated. The holes in 

 the smaller twigs measure from 0.6 to 0.8 of a millimeter in diameter, 

 and those in the larger twigs are fully twice as large An approach to 

 this habit is observable in the common oak pruner. 



The larva begins operations very near the tip of a shoot, bores some- 

 times also for some distance into the side shoots, and afterward pene- 

 trates the entire length of the mail) shoot, making its way into the 

 stump itself where it forms its pupa in the more solid wood. The larva 

 resembles that of other species of Elaphidion, having distinct thoracic 

 legs. It has unusually long hairs at each side of the mouth. 



Fortunately this species is a very rare one, as it would be quite capa- 

 ble, Mr. Pergande believes, of serious injury, should it ever be suffi- 

 ciently numerous in nurseries. 



The beetle is of about the same size as villosum, but is much nar- 

 rower. The entire surface is very coarsely punctured, and sparsely 

 and uniformly pubescent. It has previously been recorded from New 

 Jersey and Texas. 



ELAPHIDION MUCRONATUM Fab. 



ElapMdion mucronatum Fab. has been found in dry twigs of live oak 

 (Quercus virens) and in the dry leaf-stems of the cabbage palmetto 

 {Ghameerops palmetto) in Florida, in healthy hackberry trees in Texas, 

 and in large limbs of wild grapevine (Am. Ent., Vol. Ill, p. 239). Prof. 

 J. B. Smith writes that he has reared it from the stems of young trees 

 or from larger branches of oak which had been girdled, and that it 

 bores "clear down to the roots." The writer has reared it from large 

 branches and trunks of redbud (Cercis canadensis and japonica) and 

 Dr. A. D. Hopkins (Bull. 22, W. Va. Agl. Ex. St., p. 193) states that it 

 "infests dead bark and wood of beech," the "green wood of living 



