192 ORCHARDS. 



who makes a point of hunting for it — from the fact that it re- 

 mains quietly hidden by day and flies and moves only by 

 night The female deposits her eggs during the month of 

 June, and mostly at the foot of the tree, and the young worms 

 hatch and commence boring into the bark within a fortnight 

 afterwards. These young worms differ in no essential from 

 the full grown specimens, except in their very minute size; 

 and they invariably live for the first year of their lives on the 

 sap-wood and inner bark, excavating shallow, flat cavities 

 which are found stuff"ed full of their sawdust-like castings. 

 The hole by which the newly hatched worm penetrated is so 

 very minute that it frequently fills up, though not till a few 

 grains of castings have fallen from it; but the presence of the 

 worms may be generally detected, especially in young trees, 

 from the bark under which they lie becoming darkened, and 

 sufficiently dry and dead to contract and form cracks. Through 

 these cracks some of the castings of the worm generally pro- 

 trude and fall to the ground in a little heap, and this occurs 

 more especially in the Spring of the year, with the rising sap and 

 frequent rains, such castings becoming swollen and augmented 

 in bulk. Some authors have supposed that the worm makes 

 these holes to push out its own excrement, and tl^at it is forced 

 to do this to make room for itself; but, though it may some- 

 times gnaw a hole for this purpose, such an instance has never 

 come to my knowledge, and that it is necessary to the life of 

 the worm is simply a delusion, for there are hundreds of bo- 

 ring insects which never have recourse to such a procedure, and 

 this one is frequently found below the ground, where it can 

 not possibly thus get rid of its castings. It is currently sup- 

 posed that this borer penetrates into the heart of the wood of 

 the tree after the first year of its existence, whereas the Flat- 

 headed species is supposed to remain for the most part under 

 the bark ; but I find that on these points no rules can be given, 

 for the Flat-headed species also frequently penetrates into the 

 solid heart wood, while the species under consideration is fre- 

 quently found in a full grown state just under the inner bark, 

 or in the sap-wood. The usual course of its life, however, 

 runs as follows : 



