PACKARD ] mSECTS OF THE EOEEST. 253 
another at their base. It is an inch in length, and is a com¬ 
mon inhabitant of the hickory and walnut. 
The locust tree borer also infests the hickory, and it is a 
curious fact that while the individuals which live in the 
locust tree appear as beetles in September, those which 
come from the hickory, though not differing specifically, 
appear in June, three months earlier. 
The hickory girdler (Oncideres cingulatus* Fig. 194) par¬ 
tially repeats in its singular habits those of the oak primer. 
I will not attempt to condense Professor Haldeman’s account 
of this insect, simply begging to differ from 
the writer’s belief that the habit, unusual as 
it is, could never have been acquired. Until 
we know more of the habits of these Oncide¬ 
res, and there are a number of other species 
of this and closely allied beetles in Central 
and South America, we are hardly in a posi¬ 
tion to deny but that there may be other spe¬ 
cies with quite similar habits, which in their 
turn may be related to still other forms which 
may exhibit traits intermediate between the 
girdler and the average longicorn beetle. It 
is only by comparing the intellectual acts of 
a long series of closely allied species that Girdler. 
we shall be able to ascertain what is exceptional, and pos¬ 
sibly be able to get a glimpse at the origin of such excep¬ 
tional habits. It is for this reason that the study of the 
habits of our common, noxious' insects will have a double 
value, an economic one and a philosophical one. They are 
so numerous that we can never be at a loss for material on 
which to make our observations and experiments. 
“In our walks through the forests our attention was fre- 
a mistake, owing to the slipping of the bark after drying from each side 
of the notch, the incision is wrongly represented; the cut should be represented 
as somewhat square in outline. 
29 
