458 EXPEKIMElsTT STATION^ EECOKD. 



frequently than downward. At French Creek, W. Va., in 1913 and 1914, pupa- 

 tion took place during the last of June and the first of July, from ten days tto 

 two weeks being required for transformation to adults. 



The author has found the parasite Odontomerus melUpes to attack this borer 

 in West Virginia. The first and most important consideration relative to 

 preventing injury by this borer is the keeping of the trees in such condition 

 of soundness that the beetles will not deposit eggs in them. Whenever the 

 borers of this species gain entrance to a tree there is only one practicable 

 way of removing them and that is to gouge or chisel out all the wood through 

 which the burrows extend. After removing all the punctured wood and all the 

 wood soaked with water or affected by decay or disease, the cavity should be 

 sterilized by the application of creosote and filled compactly with a mortar 

 made of one part of a good grade of Portland cement and three parts of clean, 

 sharp sand. 



The sugar cane weevil root borer (Diaprepes spengleri), T. H. Jones (Porto 

 Rico Bd. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. U {.1915), pp. 19, pis. 3).— While this weevil root 

 borer appears to be generally distributed throughout the island, the larvae 

 seem to cause most serious injury to cane in the lands on the south coast be- 

 tween Gu^nica and Aguirre. Injury is caused to the root system of sugar cane 

 through pruning off the small roots and by tunneling into the root stocks, which 

 stunts the growth and in cases of severe infestation results in the death of the 

 plants. 



" The eggs are laid in clusters between parts of the same leaf or of two leaves, 

 the surfaces about the eggs being held together by an adhesive substance. In 

 the field the eggs, for the most part, seem to be placed on sugar cane and vari- 

 ous grasses. The larva or grub enters the soil immediately after issuing from 

 the egg, and it is in this stage that the insect injures the root system of the 

 cane. The pupa, the quiescent stage between larva and adult, occurs in an 

 earthen cell in the soil. Notes on the length of time passed by the root borer in 

 the soil as larva, pupa, and adult are not complete, but it appears that the 

 beetles which develop from eggs laid at any one time are not themselves ready 

 to deposit eggs until about a year later. Apparently there is an overlapping 

 of generations. The beetles live for a considerable time, the females apparently 

 longer than the males. One female collected in the field and kept in confine- 

 ment remained alive from July 29 to November 8; another from August 15 to 

 November 7. During this time the latter individual deposited 400 eggs." 



The collection and destruction of the beetles and grubs is recommended as 

 the best method of control thus far developed. 



A brief account of this weevil by Van Dine has been previously noted (E. S. 

 R, 30, p. 355), as has a systematic study by Pierce (E. S. R., 33, p. 360). 



Cone beetles: Injury to sug-ar pine and western yellow pine, J. M. Miller 

 (U. 8. Dept. Agr. Bui. 243 {1915), pp. 12, pis. 5, fig. i).— Injury to seed of 

 sugar pine throughout California and Oregon and of western yellow pine in the 

 Pacific coast and southern Rocky Mountain regions, termed "blighted cones" 

 and distinguished by the dying of immature cones soon after the starting of 

 the second year's growth, is caused in large part by small scolytid beetles of 

 the genus Conophthorus, particularly the sugar pine beetle (C. lamhertiante) 

 and the western yellow pine cone beetle (C. ponderoscc). Accounts are given 

 of these two beetles with observations of their biology and the nature and ex- 

 tent of their injury. 



Observations indicate that from the last of August until the following INIay 

 all the infestations within an area will consist of the broods of new adults 

 which are overwintering within the blighted cones. Thus it is evident that if 

 fallen infested cones from the trees which seed in a burned or cut-over area 



