268 : : 
the desirability of a preventive wash, I may state that in some portions of the country 
the apple-tree borers are prevented from entering the trunks of apple trees by painting 
the trunks with soft soap reduced to the consistency of a thick paint by the addition 
of a strong solution of washing soda.—[November 12, 1891.] 
Biological Notes on Micracis, Chramesus, and Coscinoptera. 
The remarks in INseEcT LIFE, vol. Iv, p. 94, concerning Wieracis suturalis and M. 
aculeata Lec., require a little consideration. Whatever may have led Messrs. Eich- 
hott, Judeich, and Nitsche to express the opinion that the life duration of. Scolytide 
is only one year (normally), certain it is that the foregoing species, as well as Chra- 
mesus icorie Lec., are biennial, uninfluenced appreciably by indoor breeding, and 
even triennial, when the wood in which they breed is kept two years. Narrative.— 
A hickory tree was deadened early in 1888, was cut down about the middle of April, 
1889, and a barrel of the limbs placed in the open air in the yard, covered on top 
with canvas, protected by a cover of boards. A number of Chramesus icorie ap- 
peared five or six weeks afterward, but no Wieraeis, as certainly would have been the 
ease had these species been annual alone, as in this case indoor breeding could 
scarcely have been a retarding factor. Next season, 1890, from May 15 to July, great 
numbers of C. icorie and M. aculeata emerged, with VW. suturalis in less abundance. 
The same barrel of wood this season, 1891, yielded quite a number of the former two 
species and a few of the latter; had the tree remained standing, I conclude no 
Micracis would have appeared the first year from the egg, and that all would have 
emerged the second year, as the condition of the limbs the third year would certainly 
have been adverse to so prolonged a development. There is a possibility that some 
of the Scolytidz may be either annual or biennial, one of the determining factors 
being the time of oviposition, May or August. (For further observations, see Can. 
Ent., vol. XX1IU, p. 65.) 
The article of Mr. Cockerell’s cited (ib., p. 148) has not beenseen. The reason for 
suggesting that the chrysomelide larve sent by him round in an ants’ nest were most 
probably Coscinoptera vittigera was that that species came abundantly from the same 
region with the larve. The article in the American Naturalist on the ants’ nest 
habit of C. dominicana had not been seen, nor the figures in the Sixth Missouri Report 
and third volume of the American Entomologist consulted. Narrative.—Five larve, 
probably half grown, were received perhaps in April. Only two of the cases were 
unbroken. All were placedin a cage, with earth and dead old leaves; all soon died 
except one in a case, which fed for tive or six weeks, doubling the size of its case, 
finally closing it, not abruptly, but roundly. The larve were of a dirty pale color, 
with a yellow head dashed with brown, and had formidable mandibles. The case 
externally was entirely smooth, without ribs or inequalities, the ends were nearly of 
the same diameter and shape, that at the head being smaller; it seemed to be com- 
posed of particles of ash-gray earth united by a secretion, and was not readily solu- 
ble in cold water. This case did not much or at all resemble the figure of C. domi- 
nicana given in the Sixth Missouri Report, but rather that of Chlamys plicata, without 
its gibbosity. The larva died without pupating, with its head at the entrance. To 
absolutely determine the species the imago must be bred. The larva of these sac- 
bearing Chrysomelide are possibly carnivorous as well as feeders on old leaves, as 
suggested by the experiments of W. S. Barnard (American Entomologist, vol. 111, 227), 
and from which it is proven that C. dominicana can breed without the intervention 
of an ant’s nest. An ant’s nest, however, must prove very attractive to such larve, 
as there is found an abundance of good food, plenty of clay prepared from which 
to construct their cases, and also good shelter from the disintegrating effects of pro- 
longed rains.—[John Hamilton, M. D., Pennsylvania, December 11, 1891. 
