364 
Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [skss. 
July beetles is an annual one, the larvae from the eggs of these first 
beetles passing the winter as larvae and completing their growth in 
the spring and early summer of the next year in time to allow of 
preparation and escape of imagos in July. 
With the material thus obtained in J uly and August, an experi- 
ment was arranged to test whether or no multistriatus was able to 
attack successfully and breed in a perfectly healthy tree. 
Method of Experiment . 
A large cotton sack in the form of a sleeve open at both ends 
was slipped over a vigorous branch of a healthy TJlmus campestris , 
the branch, of course, not being severed from the tree. One end of 
the sleeve was securely bound round the branch, and the other end, 
after the introduction of the beetles, likewise secured. The sleeve 
was wide, and by means of thin stakes it was kept from touching 
the branch, except at the secured ends. 
The above was done on two different branches, the sleeve on 
Branch I. holding twenty-two multistriatus introduced between July 
15 and July 30, 1899, and that on Branch II. holding twenty-three 
multistriatus introduced between August 13 and August 26. 
At different times the ‘sleeves’ were opened, and up to Nov- 
ember live multistriatus were seen crawling over the branches. 
Examined in July of 1901, and later, the two branches were both 
alive and showed quite green on dissection. In neither case did 
the beetles succeed in rearing a brood. 
It would seem, then, that S. multistriatus alone and unaided is 
not a formidable enemy of our elm trees, although in conjunction 
with S. destructor, the larger elm beetle, and seconding the work of 
the latter, it might have considerable importance. 
In cases where multistriatus was proving troublesome, the attacked 
trees should be felled, and the branches containing the enclosed 
brood burned. 
Perhaps a useful measure would be the preparing of sickly trees 
or branches as traps for the beetles to lay in, these to be peeled 
before a sufficient time had elapsed for the larvae to have completed 
their development, and the bark burned. 
