2926 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
in yellow pine woodwork of buildings. Oligomerus brunneus (Oliv.) 
is occasionally found in furniture. ~Petalium seriatum Fall feeds in 
the dead twigs of oak, pine, and bittersweet, and P. bistriatum (Say) 
in pines. 
Ptilinus ruficornis Say is a small, black, cylindrical beetle, about 3 
to 4.5 mm. in length, which is a rather common and injurious pest of 
woodwork in houses and stored wood products. It has been recorded 
in beech, maple, oak, sycamore, and mesquite, and probably attacks 
other hardwoods. P. pruimosus (Casey) feeds in cottonwood. 
Trichodesma gibbosa (Say) is a somewhat more robust species than 
most others of the Anobiidae, ranging in size from 4.5 to 6.5 mm, and 
is densely clothed with grayish recumbent hairs. It attacks sweet- 
eum joists and studding in tidewater Virginia, becoming very injuri- 
ous in some of the old historic buildings. 
Trypopitys sericeus (Say) 1s occasionally found in flooring, sills, 
and furniture in buildings. Yestobcum pufovillosum (Deg.), an ob- 
long, rather stout beetle, 6 to 7.5 mm. in length, dark brown, spotted 
with patches of yellowish hairs, is occasionally found in the wood- 
work of moist cellars in the New England States. 
Xyletinus peltatus (Harr.) is an “elongate brownish beetle clothed 
with fine silky yellow pubescence, and ranging from 3.5 to 5 mm. in 
length. It is widely distributed in the East and often does great dam- 
age to the cellar joists and flooring in damp buildings. In unoccupied, 
closed- -up buildings the woodwork, composed of both softwoods and 
hardwoods, is sometimes so reduced to powder that the floors collapse. 
It appears to require moist conditions and associated fungi. 
SPECIES OF BOSTRICHIDAE 
The Large Powder-Post Beetles 
The apple twig borer (Amphicerus hamatus (F.)) feeds in the 
dead branches and stems of hickory, pecan, oak, ash, Chinese elm, and 
beefwood (Casuarina). At times it also attacks partially seasoned 
southern red oak, ash, and pecan lumber. A. hamatus, Ste ee pachys 
punctatus (Say), and Xylobiops basilaris (Say) (fig. 49) have been 
found in lumber imported into England from America. A. cornutus 
(Pallas) has been taken from locust twigs and A. punctipennis (Lec.) 
from Australhan pine. A. cornutus isa South American species, prob- 
ably established in California and occasionally found in woodwork 
shipped into the Eastern States. 
Dendrobiella asperum (Lec.), D. sericans (Lec.), and DP. quadri- 
spinosa (Lec.) are all southwestern species that are frequently found in 
hardwoods shipped into the Eastern States. 
Dinoderus minutus (F¥.) is a cosmopolitan species breeding in bam- 
boo and is frequently shipped into this country. Beetles are some- 
times found in buildings after emerging from bamboo articles. It is 
very destructive in the West Indies. 
Lichenophanes armiger (Lec.) breeds in oak in the Middle West and 
Southwest, chiefly in dead and dying trees. ZL. (Bostrichus) bicornis 
(Web.) breeds in dead branches and is occasionally injurious to oak, 
hickory, sycamore, and locust lumber and to stored stock. 
Polycaon stouti (Lec.) is an important powder-post beetle in Cali- 
fornia, attacking arbutus, willow, hickory, and many other woods, and 
