INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 463 



It has also been recorded from West Virginia and the vicinity of Washing- 

 ton, Cincinnati O., and is probably generally distributed in the northeastern 

 United States. Dr Rackard, in his account of this insect, cites a case where 

 beetles were bred from an ash sill used in the construction of a house 

 erected some 19 or 20 years before. It hardly seems possible that this 

 insect could have existed during all these years, still there is no occasion 

 for doubting the authenticity of the report. 



Obrium rubrum Newm. 



Slender, flattened, tortuous galleries in ash, '/oto about }a inch in width, cutting the 

 wood largely, are very likely the work of the larva of this species. 



This insect is a flattened, reddish or rufous beetle about inch in 

 length and remarkable for its long, slender antennae. The thorax is nearly 

 cylindric, with lateral tuberosities and much narrower than the elytra, which 

 are rather coarsely punctured and thickly clothed with yellowish hairs. 

 The thighs are strongly clubbed. This beetle emerges from an exit hole 

 a little over r / X 6 inch in diameter. 



The full grown larva is about y 2 inch in length, slender, tapering 

 gradually from the swollen prothoracic segment, and with the body strongly 

 annulate. The mouth parts are inconspicuous and tipped with dark brown. 

 This larva is remarkable on account of the ventral and dorsal callosities or 

 leglike processes on the anterior portion of body segments 6, 7, 8 and 9. 

 The resemblance to prolegs is very striking though superficial, and on the 

 dorsum of the fifth body segment the same structure exists in a much more 

 rudimentary form, though there are no indications of thoracic legs. The 

 work of this borer in ash is represented on plate 38, figure 2. 



Distribution. This species is probably widely distributed in the East- 

 ern States at least, though we have records only of its occurring in Ohio, 

 southwestern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, aside from its 

 being taken in New York State. 



Natural enemies. A parasite, kindly determined by Dr Ashmead as 

 Brachistes phymatodis Ashm., was reared from a log infested by 

 this borer. 



