larval period being nearly eleven months. Pupation takes 

 place within the twigs during late April and early May, the 

 pupal period occupying from 22 to 29 days. The eggs are de- 

 posited, in the vicinity of lat. 40°, in Illinois, from about May 

 20 to June 15. The egg period is from 5 to 7 days. 



METHOD OF OVIPOSITION. 



As observed by Mr. Titus, the female first girdles the ten- 

 der growing twig by cutting, with her jaws, a deep groove en- 

 tirely around it. The twig is then easily detached, and falls to 

 the ground with the first light breeze that occurs. Retreating 

 about an inch along the remaining portion of the twig, the 

 beetle cuts a short longitudinal slit in and through the bark 

 but not entering the wood, and at the lower end of this she 

 cuts a shorter transverse gash, also extending only through the 

 bark. She now pushes the tip of her abdomen under the bark 

 at the angle formed by the two gashes she has made, usually 

 to the right of the longitudinal slit but sometimes to the left, 

 and places her egg snugly under the young tender bark, some- 

 times nearly a fourth of the way around the twig, where it can 

 be easily detected by the slight elevation thus caused. Having 

 placed her egg, she now retreats still further toward the base 

 of the twig, usually about an inch, and here girdles it a second 

 time, but cutting only to the wood, thus crippling the twig 

 without killing it. If the same female deposits more than one 

 egg in the same twig, she does it at different times, the evident 

 intention being to place them singly, one in each twig, and as 

 shown in Plate I., Fig. 2. 



HABITS OF THE LARVA. 



The young larva, on first hatching from the egg, begins to 

 feed even before it has entirely emerged, gnawing a minute 

 channel toward the base of the twig and under the bark long 

 enough to enable it wholly to withdraw the body from the egg- 

 shell. It then seems to back up into the abandoned shell and 

 cuts a minute circular hole in the bark directly in line with the 

 channel. Up to this time all of the castings have been pushed 



