546 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
in Townsend’s report were divided into two lots of 11 each. One lot 
was sent to T. C. Barber at Brownsville, Texas, and the other to J. D. 
Mitchell at Victoria, Texas. 
Mr. Mitchell’s rearing records are as follows: 
Oct. 29, 1918,—pupae received at Victoria, Texas. 
Aug. 2 to 8, 1919,—3 moths emerged. 
Aug. 27, 1919—1 moth emerged. 
The following are Mr. Barber’s records: 
Aug. 6, 1919,—1 moth emerged. 
Aug. 23, “ 1 “ 
Aug. 26, “ 1 “ 
Aug. 29, “ 1 “ 
Sept 1, “ 1 “ 
Aug. 28, 1920,-1 “ 
It will be noted from Mr. Barber’s records that one individual re¬ 
mained in the pupa stage for practically two years. 
Specimens submitted to Dr. Harrison G. Dyar were determined by 
him as representing a new genus and species of the family Noctuidae, 
Acronyctinae. He described it as “Thurberiphaga catalina. 3 
NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF DESMOCERUS PALLIATUS 
By Glenn W. Herrick, Ithaca, N. Y. 
Abstract 
The cloaked knotty-horn beetle (Desmocerus palliatus) livesjonjthe common 
wild elder and attacks the Golden elder which is used for ornamental purposes. 
The eggs have been found attached to leaves of the elder but it is questionable if 
this is normal. The larvae bore into the stems of the elder, just above and below 
the surface of the soil. The larvae pupate in the spring in their burrows in the stems 
and the adults appear during the last of May or early June. The beetles feed spar¬ 
ingly on the leaves before ovipositing. 
This beetle, commonly known as the cloaked knotty-horn, is a native 
species and evidently widely distributed in the United States and it 
occurs in Canada. It has been recorded from Ontario, Canada, and in 
the United States from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Penn¬ 
sylvania, and New Jersey southward to Virginia, North Carolina, and 
Louisiana and westward to Indiana and Kansas, at least. Its original 
food plant is apparently the native elder (Sambucus canadensis) on 
which the beetles are often found in considerable abundance. For 
example, Mr. Morris in one of his delightful accounts of a collecting 
excursion, says, “in the little glade, among the thickets of elder, I 
captured seven specimens of this beautiful beetle in about an hour— 
always on the underside of the foliage or crawling on the stems****. 
3 Insecutor Inscitias Menstruus. Vol. VII, p. 188. 
