10 MISC. PUBLICATION 6 9 8, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Hosts. — Herbert (1920) stated that this species is often called the 

 olive twig borer and usually bores in at the fork of two small branches 

 and occasionally damages young trees seriously. The adults prune the 

 twigs of almond, apple, apricot, avocado, birch, cherry, currant, rasp- 

 berry, English elm, Eugenia myrifolia, fig, grape, live oak, olive, 

 orange, peach, pear, prune, quince, and the strawberry tree (Arbutus 

 unedo) . The adults do not breed in all these plants, but eggs have been 

 recorded as being laid in the dead wood of acacia, almond, apple, Ore- 

 gon maple, silver maple, live oak, manzanita, tanbark oak, and rose. 

 Herbert (1920) reported that the larvae mine in the sap and heart- 

 wood of these trees for a year and possibly more, emerging in early 

 summer to prune a few twigs before laying eggs. 



LeConte (1866) described confertus from a single female and in 1868 

 described Exopioides incisa from a single male, both collected at unre- 

 corded localities in California. Horn (1878) , recognizing Exopioides 

 incisa as the male of Polycaon confertus, placed it as a synonym of the 

 latter species. 



Melalgus Megalops (Fall) 



Polycaon megalops Fall, 1901, Calif. Acad. Sci., Occas. Papers 8 : 25, 134, 254. 

 Heterartliron megalops Lesne, 1938, in Junk (pub.), Coleopt. Cat., pt. 161, p. 28. 



The writer has not examined any specimens of this species, and it is 

 placed in the key entirely upon the characters given in the original 

 description. The following is a copy of Fall's original description. 



Polycaon megalops. Allied to P. confertus, with which it can be compared 

 because of its 10-jointed antennae. It differs most conspicuously in the very 

 large and prominent eyes, which are separated by three times their own diameter 

 when viewed from the front, while in P. confertus they are distant fully six 

 times their own diameter. Further differences are as follows: prothorax dis- 

 tinctly wider than long, not canaliculate, the transverse impression less distinct, 

 the granulation less dense ; elytra two and one-half times as long as the head 

 and prothorax (scarcely more than twice as long in P. confertus) , rather sparsely 

 punctate, much as in the male of P. confertus, but not at all granulate towards 

 the sides and apex; second and third tarsal joints with only a group of pro- 

 jecting hairs, instead of the densely matted brushes which in P. confertus assume 

 the appearance of membranous lobes. 



Two examples have been seen, both apparently females ; one, in the writer's 

 collection, is 5 mm. in length, the other, in the collection of Dr. Van Dyke, is 

 7 mm. long. The larger specimen barely reaches the stature of the smallest P. 

 confertus, which varies in length from 7.5 to 10.5 mm. 



Specimens taken at Pomona, Los Angeles County [Calif.]. 



Melalgus femoralis (Fabricius) 



Apate femoralis Fabricius, 1792, Entomologia Systematica, v. 1, pt. 2, p. 361. 



This species, listed from Texas by Leng, 2 is found only in the West 

 Indies, and the specimens listed from Central America and Texas are 

 femoralis Lesne (not Fabricius), which is a synonym of exesus 

 LeConte. 



Melalgus parvulus (Lesne) 



Heterartliron parvulum Lesne, 1925, Encyc. Ent. (ser. B), Coleopt. 1: 29-30. 



This species, listed from California by Leng and Mutchler, 3 was de- 

 scribed from Monterey, Calif., in error for Monterey, Mex., and has 

 not been collected in the United States. 



2 Leng, C. W. catalogue of the coleoptera of America, north of Mexico, p. 

 245. 1920. 



3 See footnote 2 (iUd. sup. 2, p. 37, 1933). 



