18 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
Coleopterous enemies of borers. — Besides woodpeckers and other birds 
which pick insects out of bark, and thus do great benefit to forestry, 
and besides ichneumon and Ohalcid parasites of borers, there are many 
carnivorous grabs which prey upon the borers. 
Among the external though less known enemies belongiug to the 
order of beetles, which Penis enumerates from his extended observa- 
tions on their habits, are a Large Dumber which live under the bark of 
9. I quote his accounts of them, premising that we have similar 
insects with like habits in this country; and though the list of scientific 
names seems formidable, yet there an* no common names for them. I 
nse nearly his own words, with occasional interpolations of English 
names. 
When one of the Scolytids injurious to pines (the Bostrichus stenographus) lays its 
index the bark, the Platysoma oblon§mm introduces itself by the hole which has 
given, entrance to the first named uiM-ct ; it lays its eggs in the gallery of the Bostri- 
chus, and from those eggs are boro the carnivorous larva which devour those of the 
wood-eating beetles. Other beetles conduct themselves in the same manner in war- 
ring against other Beolyti. The larva 1 or grubs of Plegaderus disci*us destroy the 
yonngof Crypturgus pusillus ; another wood-earing beetle, the Aulonium sulcatum, is 
the deadly enemy of Scolytus destructor, so formidable a foe to shade trees : Julonium 
bicolor attacks Bostrichus laricis ; Colydium bicolor preys upon the Bostrichus of the 
larch: Colydium elongatum on Platypus cylindrus ; Rhizophagus depressus on Blastopha- 
gus piniperda and B. minor; Lirmophla?us hypobori on Hypoborus ficus ; Hypophlatus 
pinion Bostrichus stenographus ; and finally Hypojyhlwus linearis on Bostrichus bidens. 
Who will not be struck by these antagonisms ? Who will not admire this infallibility 
o( instinct which causes these insects to discover the tret- attacked, and perceive 
among the species wk ich the tree conceals the victim which has been assigned to 
them ? 
Other beetles exhibit the same sagacity. The larva? of several Elaterids (wire- 
worms) aud those of Clerus mutillarius and C. formicarius make war on those of some 
lougicoru beetles of the oak, the elm, alder bush, aud the pine. The Opilus mollis 
and 0. domesticus are the enemies of the borers which miue our floors and ceilings ; the 
Cylidrus albofasciatus aud the Tillus unifasciatus prey on Sinoxylon sexdtntatum aud on 
Xylopertha sinuata, which seek the diseased branches of the vine aud those of several 
trees; the Tarsostenus univittatus attaeks the Lyctus canaliculatus, injuring our timber 
works; while the Trogosita mauritanica destroys the grain moth 
In an article in the American Naturalist (xvi, 823) on iuquiline wood- 
borers, or those which usually* take up their residence in mines or gal- 
leries made by true wood-borers, Mr. E. A. Scuwarz finds that the com- 
mon Platypus compositus may itself bore in the thick bark of pine 
ments from Australia were received at Los Angeles by Dr. D. W. Coquillet, another 
of the agents of the division." * * * 
The people of California are enthusiastic over the grand success of this effort, and 
the Vedalia is spreading with remarkable rapidity and clearing the trees in its wake. 
Prof. W. A. Henry, director of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, m a recent report 
to the Department of Agriculture writes: 
•A word in relation to the grand work of the Department in the introduction of 
this one predaceons insect Without doubt it is the best stroke ever made by the 
iltural Department at Washington. Doubtless other offorts have been pro- 
ductive of greater good, but they were of such character that the people could uot 
clearly see and Appreciate the benefits, so that the Department did not receive The 
credit it deserved. Here is the finest illustration possible of the value of the Depart- 
ment to give people aid in time of distress. Aud the distress was very great indeed." 
