THE PIGEON TREMEX. 
537 
•with a seal, are ochre-yellow. The antennae are rather 
short and blunt, rust-colored, with a broad black ring in 
the middle. The wings expand two inches and a quarter, 
or more ; they are smoky brown and semitransparent. The 
legs are ochre-yellow, with blackish thighs. The borer, awl, 
or needle is as thick as a bristle, spear-pointed at the end, 
and of a black color ; it is concealed, when not in use, 
between two narrow rust-colored side-pieces, forming a kind 
of scabbard to it. 
This insect is figured and described in the second volume 
of the late Mr. Say’s “ American Entomology.” The male 
does not appear to have been described by any author ; 
and, although agreeing, in some respects, with the two 
other species represented by Mr. Say, is evidently distinct 
from both of them. He is extremely unlike the female 
in color, form, and size, and is not furnished with the re- 
markable borer of the other sex. He is rust-colored, varie- 
gated with black. His antennae are rust-yellow or blackish. 
Ilis wings are smoky, but clearer than those of the female. 
His hind body is somewhat flattened, rather widest behind, 
and ends with a conical horn. His hind legs are flattened, 
much wider than those of the female, and of a blackish 
color ; the other legs are rust-colored, and more or less 
shaded with black. The length of his body varies from 
three quarters of an inch to one inch and a quarter ; and 
his wings expand from one inch and a quarter to two inches 
or more. 
An old elm-tree in this vicinity used to be a favorite 
place of resort for the Tremex Columba, or pigeon Tremex ; 
and around it great numbers of the insects were often col- 
lected, during the months of July and August, and the 
early part of September. Six or more females might fre- 
quently be seen at once upon it, employed in boring into 
the trunk and laying their eggs, while swarms of the males 
hovered around them. For fifteen years or more, some 
large buttonwood-trees in Cambridge have been visited by 
