824 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 332 



the exception of a whitish spot a Httle distant from the end of each 

 wing cover. The sides of the body and legs- are mingled with 

 white. The beak is robust, curved and is almost equal in length to 

 the thorax. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. la.) 



The white, footless, grub-like larva is found beneath the bark 

 of the host, usually in greatest numbers in the terminal 2 or 3 feet 

 of the central branch. They are a little more than one-fourth of 

 an inch in length when full grown. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. lb.) 



The pupa is about the size of the beetle and when newly formed 

 is creamy white in color, excepting the eyes and tips of the mandi- 

 bles which are brown. Later the appendages take on a varying 

 amount of brown coloration. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. Ic.) 



Life history and habits. — The winter is passed by the beetles, 

 presumably under ground or at least within the shelter of the refuse 

 of the forest floor. In early May they emerge and during the day 

 may be found clustered head downward at the tip of the developing 

 terminal shoot of the host. They feed for a time upon the bark of 

 the leading shoot and a little later cut neat punctures (See Plate 

 LXVIII, Fig. 2) in it by means of their long beaks and deposit their 

 eggs therein. After a few days the eggs hatch and the resulting 

 larvae begin feeding inward and downward, riddling the tissues of 

 the shoot as they progress, particularly if there is a considerable 

 number of them. 



By early August, larval growth has been completed and after 

 constructing neat cells lined with excelsior-like material within the 

 galleries in which they have been feeding, the larvae transform to 

 the pupal stage. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. 3.) After resting a 

 short time as pupae the insects transform to the adult or beetle 

 stage. A neat, round hole is eaten through the confining wall of 

 the host and the beetle emerges. (See Plate LXVIII, Fig. 4.) It 

 is likely that during the period between the emergence of the beetles 

 from their pupal cells and their retreat into winter quarters that 

 the greatest spread of the species takes place. 



Nature of work. — The nature of injury caused by this beetle is 

 of two types. The beetles after leaving their winter quarters in 

 the spring feed upon the tender terminal shoot of the host and cause 

 a heavy exudation of sap. The second and far more serious inj ury, 

 however, results from the larvae feeding within the tetrminal shoot 

 of the host. As stated previously the grubs tunnel downward and 

 inward and since considerable numbers may occupy one shoot, the 

 attack is almost invariably fatal to it. As a result of the killing of 

 the central leader, the host is badly stunted and deformed and its 



