3")ec. 1897] Webster: Notes on Coleoptera. 201 
fold has some mealy bloom ; dorsum covered with long tufts of white 
down which is secreted slowly after each molt, in long, flattened masses, 
two dorsal, two subdorsal, three lateral, the posterior one lower ; sub- 
dorsal tufts longer than the unpaired dorsal ones. The wool may be- 
come 5 mm. long and curls a little. Three stages observed with widths 
of head i.t, 1.5 and 2.1 mm. 
Ultimate Stage. — Head 2.1 mm. Perfectly smooth, uniform 
opaque yellowish white, head shining and a shade darker, eye black. 
Segments indistinctly transversely wrinkled. Body robust, thick, as 
high as wide ; thorax very slightly enlarged. 
Food-Plant. — Butternut. Found at Greenwood Lake, N. J. 
Dr. Packard has confounded this species with Monophadnus caryce 
Norton (5th Rept. U. S. Ent. Comm., 339). Fitch's butternut larvae, 
on being bred, prove to belong to Eriocampa, and moreover they differ 
from the hickory larvae of Norton in being blackish, while the latter 
•are described as greenish beneath the wool. 
NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES OF COLEOPTERA. 
plate X. 
By F. W. Webster. 
It has always appeared to me as a good plan to record the little, 
detached observations that are made by almost every observing ento- 
mologist. Taken individually, these are very often almost devoid of 
scientific value, but we all of us know how much light some point, of 
itself unimportant, will throw upon the problem of a life history, when 
we attempt to work this out, or construct it from the known facts at our 
disposal. It is as if a huge piece of chinaware were to be dashed into 
an infinite number of fragments, and these scattered broadcast over the 
land, and the attempt then made to bring these fragments together, and 
from them construct the piece anew. It would probably occur that 
many pieces would have to await the discovery of one, and again, a 
piece would fit fairly well into the wrong place, and the error could 
only be detected by the right fragment finally turning up and indicating 
its proper place. 
Sorrie of these notes have been, in the main, recorded elsewhere, 
but without illustration ; and it seems to me to be a matter of mutual 
benefit to have, somewhere, as accurate illustrations of as many of our 
species as possible. 
202 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. v. 
My two specimens of OdontcEiis Jilicornis Say, a male and a female, 
were taken nearly twenty years ago in a small tract of woods, in 
northern Illinois, under a decaying log, and I think in late November. 
My only specimen of Tyloderma variegaium (Horn) was taken in 
early spring, April, I believe, in an ant hill, located in grass land. It 
was in hibernation, doubtless, as T. foveolatum Say, breeds in the stems 
of the Evening Primrose, CEnothera biennis, and T. fragarice, in the 
crown of the Strawberry. My T. variegaium is from Illinois and col- 
lected many years ago. 
Lina scripia Fab., has increased in some places and become quite 
destructive to young willow and poplar trees, being especially trouble- 
some in nurseries, where such trees are being grown. It has been found 
to be a matter of considerable difficulty to manage these insects, espec- 
ially the adults, with insecticides, and hand picking was found expen- 
sive. The present year has witnessed a very material decrease in num- 
bers of not only adults but in a marked degree among the larvae. The 
cause of this was pointed out to me by an observing nurseryman, who 
was not an entomologist, and who stated that there were several other 
bugs that were destroying the young. On examination, I found these 
several so called bugs to be the several stages of development of the 
Spined Soldier Bug, Podisiis spinosiis Dallas. I have since noticed the 
very young larvre of the bug, stationed about an egg cluster of the beetle 
and destroying the young as fast as they hatched, and also attacking 
much larger larvae while these were feeding on the leaves. This year, 
the trouble by the beetle has been so slight as to obviate the necessity of 
using preventive and remedial measures against them. 
Not unfrequently we have statements to the effect that insect larvce 
can be killed by shaking them from the plants, in excessively hot 
weather, especially if the plants are growing in sand. As showing the 
possibilities in this direction, though I have never had much faith in it, 
I will say that during the terribly hot weather which occurred in this 
country about the first of August, while walking along the pavement, I 
saw an adult Phytono7nus punctatiis Fab., attempt to pass over a portion 
of the pavement composed of thick glass for the purpose of lighting the 
room beneath. The beetle had hardly touched the glass before it began 
to exhibit signs of distress, and ere it had passed over an inch of the 
glassy space it turned frantically about, but before it could escape from 
its torture it rolled over and died. The temperature at the time was 
above ioo° Fah., on the sunny side of the walls of the buildings, as in- 
dicated by thermometers. 
Dec. 1897.] Webster : Notes on Coleoptera. 203 
Our Coccinellidse do not appear to have many Hymenopterous para- 
sites. I have, however, the dried skin of a nearly fullgrown larva of 
Coccmella g-7iotata Hbst., probably, punctured by several round holes, 
showing that a parasite had developed within and several individuals 
made their escape. Just what the parasite is, aside from its being a 
Hymenopter, I cannot conjecture, but the h( les for escape are un- 
mistakable. This was found at Painesville, Ohio, August 5th. 
Valgus canaliadatus Fab., Plate X, Fig. 5. This has come to be 
a fruit tree pest in southern Ohio, where the adult works very serious 
injuries by eating out the fruit buds of the pear and other fruits, in 
spring. I can find little regarding this habit in our literature, the 
single instance of this injury being recorded in Insect Life, Vol. i, p. 
53, where Mr. W. W. Meech, Vineland, N. J., stated that the adult ate 
out the young buds of the quince. The larvae are known to develop in 
decaying wood, and my assistant, Mr. Mally, has found the beetles 
hibernating under decaying stumps. 
Crioceris asparagi Linn., is making its way slowly but steadily 
west and southwest into Ohio, seemingly spreading more rapidly in 
these directions than to the southward. There is hardly a doubt but 
that it has made its way through New York, and along the south shore 
of Lake Erie, between the lake and the Alleghany Mountains, broaden- 
ing out in its area in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. 
It now covers the area laying east of a line drawn from a point located 
some distance west of Cleveland, to near the point where Ohio, Penn- 
sylvania and West Virginia corner upon each other, and the Ohio river 
ceases to form the boundary line betv/een the two States and passes into 
Pennsylvania at this place. Professor A. D. Selby, Botanist of the Ohio 
Experiment Station, informs me that an introduced plant, the Golden 
Hawk-weed, Hieracium aurantiaciwi L., a native of the Alpine regions 
of Europe, and introduced into this country prior to 1818, without 
much doubt, is now apparently spreading over Ohio from western Penn- 
sylvania in almost exactly the same way. 
In regard to Oberea bimacjilata Oliv. , I have only to again call at- 
tention to a point already published, unillustrated,* in regard to the 
astonishing amount of excreta evacuated by the larvse during the space 
of 24 hours. The adult is shown, slightly magnified, in Plate X, Fig. 
I, the larva, also magnified at the left. These larvse burrow out the 
center of the twig as shown in Plate X, Fig. 2, cutting out round holes 
* [nsects of the Year in Ohio, F. M. Webster and C. W. Mally, Bull. 9^ 
New Ser., U. S. Dept. Agrieultm-e, Division of Entomology, p. 43. 
204 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi. v. 
through the walls thus left, for the ejectment of the excreta. This ex- 
crement is shown at the right of Fig. i, also enlarged, and falls down 
on the outside in more or less broken and detached masses. The larva 
is, when nearly full grown, certainly less than an inch in length, and 
the amount of these ejectments were so astonishing that I determined to 
get some definite idea of the exact amount. We had at the same time 
two larvae under observation in the Insectary, one working in apple, 
the other in Witch Hazel, Hamainelis virginiana, and the castings of 
each were carefully saved during a period of twenty-four hours. In 
both cases the weight, 0.05 gram, was the same; and placed end to 
end, the detached pieces measured twenty- four and three-eighths inches 
in the one case, the other being too much broken to measure correctly, 
but probably did not differ materially from the first. This is giving an 
amount of evacuation for each hour from 11.00 a. m. to 11.00 a. m., 
the period of time covered by the test, amounting to considerably more 
in length per hour than the length of the larva itself. 
Cyllene picta Drury, has come to have a fondness for Osage orange, 
Madura aicrantiaca, hardly second to that for the Hickory. From a 
section of Osage orange fence post, one and one-half feet in length and 
four inches in diameter, placed in the insectary, there emerged between 
February 4th and April 14th, twenty-seven individual adults, the 
greatest number to appear in a single day being four, on February 24th. 
The beetle is shovvn in Fig. 3, Plate X, while the closely allied species, 
C. robinicB Forst, which breeds in Robinla pseiidacacia L., is shown in 
Fig. 4. 
To our knowledge of Cryptorhynchus lapathl Gyll., Plate X, Fig. 
6, I have little to add, beyond what was given in Journal New York 
Entomological Society, Vol. V, p. 30. My specimens survived for a 
time, the last one having died the latter part of November. There was 
no indication of oviposition, and probably this does not take place until 
spring, the insect developing to the adult, largely at least, by September. 
The adults kept, fed daily by puncturing the bark of willow with which 
they were provided, gouging out the cambium layer. They simply 
make a hole the size of the beak, and then by circling about excavate a 
circular cavity under the outer bark. In Europe the species attacks 
Salix cinerea, S. alba, Popitliis, Betida, Alniis, and Rumex hydro- 
lapathum, from which last it probably derived its specific name. 
EXPLANATION OF PL.ATE X. 
Fig. I. Adult, larva, and excreta of the latter, of Oberea biniaculata Oliv. 
Fig. 2. Section of twig burrowed out by O. biniaculata, showing holes in the walls 
for ejectment of the excreta of the larva. 
205 
Dec. 1897] Proceedings of the Society. 
Fig. 3 Cv//.«^/eVM Drury. Fig. 5. Valgus canaliculaius Yzh 
Fig 4 Cyllene robini^ Forst. Fig. 6. Cryptorhynchus lapathi Gyll. 
All figures are slightly enlarged, and drawn from nature by Miss Lydia M. 
Hart, under supervision. 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW YORK ENTOMOLOGI- 
CAL SOCIETY. 
Meeting of April 20, 1897. 
Held at the American Museum of Natural History. 
Vice-President Dr. Love in the chair. Thirteen members present. 
The Publication Committee reported that a lecture, by Prof. L. A. Best, had 
been given and called attention to the next by Dr. E. G. Love, to be held Apr.l 24th. 
A vote of thanks was given to Professor Lyman A. Best for his lecture given 
before the Society. 
Mr Joutel spoke on the breeding habits of beetles. He stated that each species 
always worked in the same way, and that some larvae live only on the sap that they 
cause to flow from their wounding the trees and so renders it impossible to raise them 
in the breeding box. He exhibited a collection of fifty species mostly Longicorns 
bred by him, among which were CaUidmm anlmnatum, four species of Elaphtdiou, 
He/erachthes 4-maculatus, Phy ton pallidum, Stcnosphenus notatus, Cyllene pictus, A. 
colonus, two species oiEuderces, Leptura emarginata, L. lineola, Cryptophor us verru- 
cosus, Saperda pundicollis, moesla, discoidea and obliqua, Elasmocerus ternunatus and 
Ichnea laticollis. r , ht i 
Dr H G. Dyar spoke on the morphology of the abdominal legs of the Megalo- 
pygidK ' He showed that there were two sets of legs of different functions, first, the 
ordinary legs with hooks on abdominal segments 3 to 6 and 10, used for prehension, 
and second, a series of paired soft pads oh segments 2-7 used as sucking disks for ad- 
hering to smooth surfaces. The structuie is peculiar and proves interesting as lead- 
ing up to the creeping disks of the Eucleida. where the prehensile legs have dis- 
appeared and the disk is formed by an extension of these short pads. 
Mr R. L. Ditmars read a paper entitled " Spiders," in which he gave a short 
history of their classification and structure, together with a sketch of their habits and 
uses He called attention to their poison glands and fangs and compared them with 
those of the poisonous snakes. He illustrated their webs and explained their mode of 
construction. 
Meeting of May 4, 1897. 
Held at the American Museum of Natural History. 
President Palm in the chair. Ten members present. 
A vote thanks was given to Dr. E. G. Love for his lecture on the " Study of 
Insects and their Transformations," delivered on April 24ih.