52 



with the habits of the family Clerid^e, to which they belong, it might be supposed from 

 finding these beetles mentioned, without comment, in the Bulletin of Insects Inj urious 

 to Forest and Shade Trees," that they were injurious species. The larv« of the Cleridae, 

 however, whose habits are known, are carnivorous, and it is therefore probable that the 

 species in question merely lived upon the larvae of some of the injurious beetles. I have 

 already recorded (Can. Ent., Vol. XV., p. 80) the fact that Ghariessa pilosa was found 

 by me in the act of devouring specimens of Nos. 8 and 39 of the present list ; thus 

 proving itself in the perfect form at least to be a decidedly beneficial species. Several 

 other species of this family are commonly found upon the hickory, and are all 

 probably the opposite of injurious to them. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE WHITE PINE— Pmits strobus. 



By Wm. Saunders, London, Ontario. 



More than one hundred species of insects have been enumerated as destructive to 

 the white pine, some attacking the wood, others the bark, twigs or leaves, and while 

 some of them do comparatively little harm, others are very injurious. In the present 

 paper reference will be made mainly to those which do the greatest injury to this our 

 most valuable timber tree, briefly sketching their life history, and habits as far as they 

 are known. The losses occasioned by the destructive work of borers are unfortunately 

 too well known to those engaged in the lumber trade, although the suflerers in most 

 instances know but little of the curious transformations which these insects undergo. 

 These specially destructive species inflict their greatest injuries during the larval period 

 of their existence, in which condition some of them continue their work for several years 

 before reaching maturity. Most of these pests belong to one of two families of beetles, 

 the longicorn, or long-horned beetles (Ceramhycidce)^ or the serricorn, or saw-horn beetles 

 (Buprestidce). The cylindrical bark-beetles are also injurious, but as they operate chiefly 

 near the surface, immediately under the bark, they do not injure the timber to any 

 material extent. 



MONOHAMMUS CoNFUSOR. 



Among the most formidable enemies in the family of long-horned beetles are two 

 species belonging to the genus Monohammus, and known as Monohammus confusor and 



M. scutellatus. M. confusor is a large grey beetle, 

 remarkable for the extraordinary length of its 

 antennae or horns. This insect is shown in fig. 19. 

 The body varies in length from an inch to an inch 

 and a-half, the average size being over an inch. 

 Its general colour is ashen grey, mottled with 

 darker spots and dots ; there are also patches of 

 a whitish colour on the head, thorax and abdomen, 

 which are sometimes indistinct or almost want- 

 ing, the colours being chiefly due to a covering of 

 very fine, short hairs, which, as they are easily 

 rubbed off", occasion these variations in the appear- 

 ance of the insect. The antennae of the males 

 vary in length from two to upwards of three 

 inches ; those of the female are much shorter, and 

 seldom exceed the length of the body. During 

 the summer the female lays her eggs in the 

 crevices of the bark of the white pine trees, fre- 

 quently selecting those which have been scorched by fire or felled by the wind or the 

 lumberman's axe. 



