Packard.] 



EN'SECTS OF THE FOREST. 



241 



is thrown from the tree. The successful party then takes his 

 station as guard. These contests sometimes last for hours, 

 and are always repeated if the pi'oper male is defeated, 

 though not often if he is successful. I think it is by mere 

 'happen so' that the stranger passes by or runs across the 

 busy couple, and if successful in routing his rival he takes 

 the same care of the female as did the vanquished indi- 

 vidual. The habits of these insects are much like those of 

 the Curculio family. 'When disturbed they fold themselves 

 up as well as they can and drop to the ground, where they 



Fig. 183. 



Oak weevil and young. 



feign death. They will soon 'come to,' and hide beneath 

 pieces of bark, stones or other rubbish, Curculio-like." 



Another weevil, which may be found in all its stages of 

 larva, pupa and adult, early in May under the bark of decay- 

 ing oaks, is the ^fagdalinus olyra (Fig. 183 ; a, larva ; &, 

 pupa, enlarged tlu-ee times. 



The most interesting and intelligent of all the borers is 

 the oak Pruner {Stenocorus putator, Fig. 184 ; a, larva ; b, 

 pupa lying in its hole). The ])ectle appears in June and 

 deposits its eggs near the axilla of a leaf stalk or small 

 twig, or in the bark of larger branches. The grub hatches, 

 and sinks into the centre of the twig. Now comes the 

 strange part of its history, in which this grub evinces a 

 most unusual trait in these boring insects. When lialf 

 grown it nearly cuts the brancli off. It then withdraws 

 16 17 



