444 FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
month and throughout the autumn and winter following, may be found in the en- 
larged portions of its borrow with its head and the first third of its body closely bent 
backward on the remaining two-thirds of the length, and in this folded form tilling 
tin- cavity gnawed for itself in the wood. Tin; bend of the body is always sideways, 
and usually to the left. 
About tin- middle of May the larva- transform, and the pupa' are found with their 
heads occupying the position of the fold just mentioned and next to the rounded end 
of the burrow. The ventral side is always outward, that is, toward the ■orrace of 
the tree. Two weeks or t hereabouts later the pupa- become perfect beetles, and 
about the first to the middle of Juue escape by gnawing outward, making, in so 
doing, a very dilh-ient cut from that previously made by the larva'. Seen from with- 
out the hole is doubly convex, tin; curvatures being quite unequal, and meeting at a 
sharp or slightly rounded angle on either side. As the insect emerges, its back is 
pressed against the strongly convex side of the excavation. 
The beetle. — About half an inch long, slender, and sluggish. It makes little or no 
effort to avoid capture, which is easily enough done. It appears to pass the night at 
rest in crevices, etc., and moves about only during sunny weather. Eggs are depos- 
ited withiu a few days after the mature beetle gains its freedom. It is thus described 
by Say : " Body cylindrical, olive-green, granulated ; head punctured, with a profound 
sinus each side for the reception of the antenna-, tip rounded; eyes whitish, with a 
black, oblong, movable pupil; thorax with an oblique indented Hue each side, and 
a longitudinal dorsal one; basal edge sinuated ; scutel transversely elongated, with 
an impressed transverse line behind ; elytra scabrous or grauulated, without stria.' or 
punctures; an elevated longitudinal line, and an indented large spot at base: tip 
serro-dentate. Length two-fifths of an inch nearly. This species has three hardly 
visible fulvous spots on the elytra; one on the depressed base, one near the suture 
before the middle, and one behind the middle, also near the suture. I have a speci- 
men in which these spots are not at all visible. The elevated line at the posterior 
angles of the thorax is short, but very obvious." 
10. The toplak .egeria. 
JEgeria tricincta Harris. 
The caterpillars bore iii PopuUts candicans iu winter and spring, the 
moths perhaps placing their eggs iu the deserted burrows of Saperda 
mcesta. They inhabit the brauches, suckers, and small trunks in Xew 
York, on the smaller stalks raising galls. The larva is dull white, head 
light brown, otherwise much as in other ..Egerian caterpillars. The 
habits of this borer have been described by Dr. D. S. Kellicott in the 
Canadian Entomologist (vol. xiii, p. 3) as follows : 
During June and July last I obtained several examples of this moth from larva) 
secured in April. These larva? were takeu from branches, suckers, aud small trunks 
of Popuhis candicans growing on low lands along the Niagara below the city [Buffalo]. 
The smaller ones were sometimes found in the sap wood, or just beneath the bark, 
but the larger ones were generally in the center or pith of the stems ; ou the smaller 
suilks they cause considerable galls, quite as prominent as those upon the willow 
branches made by the larva of the Tortrix, very abundant in the same locality. 
These poplars are badly iufested by the larva3 of Sapcrda mocsta, and I am of the opinion 
that the moth places her eggs in the deserted burrows of the beetle, the young cater- 
pillars thus easily gaining access to the wood, their home for at least a year. The 
swelliugs on the brauches caused by the beetle become more enlarged by a second 
occupation. I have takeu them from the stem just above ground, and from limbs 
of trees many feet high. The larva before transforming prepares a way for final 
