30 



Mr. Smith that successive generations increased the length of the bur- 

 rows. He had never seen a case of trees attacked by this insect being 

 broken off by winds. He questioned if the species had been accu- 

 rately determined in all cases, and thought that possibly there might 

 be more than one species involved. 



Mr. Smith was of the opinion that there was but one species engaged 

 in New Jersey, and that this was the very common species. He stated 

 that the imported Zeuzera jyyrina worked the younger trees in such a 

 way as to weaken them by going around the trunk and girdling it 

 completely under the bark; then the first heavy wind would carry the 

 tree to the ground. 



Mr. Felt stated that another species (Cossus centerensis) occurred in 

 the vicinity of Albany in poplars, and that its work was quite differ- 

 ent from that of the carpenter worm. 



Mr. Smith replied that in New Jersey there was another native 

 species which was smaller than the one under discussion; but its hab- 

 its of boring were different, and the species is quite rare. 



Mr. Howard remarked that the Division of Entomology had recently 

 made some examinations, and had found that oaks infested by the 

 oak carpenter worm (PrionoxysPus robi/nise) were noticeably smaller 

 than trees not infested. The same year the insects were all destroyed 

 in the trees found infested by the use of carbon bisulphid injected into 

 the holes. Six months after he had published his paper on shade-tree 

 insects he had been obliged to change his relative rating of oaks on 

 account of this insect. 



Mr. Smith remarked that he had used this method against the wood 

 leopard moth in private grounds in the vicinity of Jersey City. The 

 species has now spread to New Brunswick, but he did not regard it as 

 a dangerous insect there. He had been watching it for many years, 

 as it slowly spread from one city to another. The native birds kept 

 it in check outside the sparrow range: but he had found it occasionally 

 in nursery examinations close to cities, and here the insects might be 

 very abundant, there being no native birds to keep them down. He 

 had found the larva? almost every year, but rarely in an orchard or on 

 fruit trees, except such as were inside of city limits. 



Mr. Scott called attention to a rather remarkable occurrence of one 

 of the powder-post beetles which occurred in a dwelling on Washing- 

 ton street, Atlanta, Ga. His attention had been called to it by one of 

 the inmates of the house, who requested him to make an examination. 

 The trouble had existed for a week, and every day it had been neces- 

 sary to remove the carpets from the floors and sweep up. An investi- 

 gation of the cellar of the house and the floor above revealed that the 

 timbers were thoroughly riddled by the tunnels of this beetle. He 

 advised that the city building inspector be called, as the house appeared 

 to be dangerous. He sent specimens of the insect's work to Dr. How- 

 ard with the request for a remedy. So far as he knew, nothing had 



