INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 



467 



Chrysobothris azurea Lec. 



A flattened, brilliantly^colored, purplish or bluish beetle about % inch long, may be 

 met with in May on birch and other deciduous trees. 



This beautiful little insect was bred by us from white birch taken at 

 Karner, Ap. 6, 1903. The specimens emerged May 12. This insect is one 

 of our most brilliantly colored native species, and may be recognized by 

 the three sparkling blue depressions on each purplish wing cover. Under- 

 neath, the insect is brilliant green or bluish, with coppery on the sides, 

 particularly of the abdomen. The coloring of this species is somewhat 

 variable, and Dr LeConte states that it may be distinguished from 

 C. harrisii Hentz, by the structure of the antennae. He records this 

 insect from New York, Illinois, District of Columbia, Georgia and Texas, 

 and it has been listed from Ohio by Dury. It is probably widely distributed 

 in the eastern United States, at least. 



Bellamira scalaris Say 



A slender, brownish beetle, ranging from about 3/£ to nearly inches in length, 

 bores as a larva under the bark of yellow birch and has been taken ovipositing on maple. 



Description. The beetle has been described by Mr Wickham as 

 follows : 



The form is slender, the elytra tapering greatly to and rounded at tip, 

 deeply sinuate at sides, the tip of the abdomen uncovered. The prothorax is 

 bell-shaped, with prominent, rather flattened hind angles. Color brownish ; 

 most of the head, a greater portion of the fore and middle legs, the bases 

 of the hind femora and the bases and tips of the ventral segments inclin- 

 ing to reddish or even yellowish. Antennae rufous. Elytra brownish, with 

 a large lighter (golden-sericeous) wedge-shaped mark (wavy on the edges 

 and sometimes interrupted at about one third its length by a transverse 

 brownish band) which extends about two thirds to tip. The body is finely 

 and densely in most places rugosely punctured, clothed with fine golden 

 pubescence, which is much denser on certain parts, notably the abdomen. 



This insect has been taken in the Adirondacks in August, and Mr 



Harrington has observed it ovipositing in a maple stump in [uly. It has 



also been recorded from New Jersey. Dury records taking a jet black 



variety of this species in the vicinity of Cincinnati. 



