60 THE REPORT OF THE No. 19 



The larva of several species of Ciear-wing motlis are borers ; Sesia acerni 

 in the soft maple, Sesia pictipes in the wild cherry, Pseudohazis denudata in 

 the ash. 



The Horn-tail, Tremex columba, or Pigeon Tremex (Fig 28), is a creature 

 of formidable appearance. It has a stout acuform, but hollow, ovipositor 

 which extends in its sheath from the middle of the underside of the abdomen 

 to a length of half an inch beyond the body. The Tremex drives this instru- 

 ment through the bark and into the soft wood of the tree (which is usually a 

 maple or a beech), and then, by muscular action, it passes its eggs through the 

 ovipositor to the end of the wound it has made. The Tremex is, in many in- 

 stances, so exhausted in the process that it has not strength to withdraw its 

 ovipositor, and perishes at its post. 



As soon as the young larvae are hatched they begin to tunnel in different 

 directions, enlarging their passages as they grow. 



Other Horn-tails of like habits to the Tremex are Sirex alhicornis, Sirex 

 flavicornis, and Paururus cyaneus, and these assail the pine. 



'IhiV-i- -^. 



Fig. 27. Wood-boring caterpillar (Cossus) and ^i^r 28 Pi^-eon Tremex — the 



c^ry^alis. HorS-taU borer': 



It must not be supposed that nature has left these borers to multiply and 

 work their will without a check. If she had, the forests would have disap- 

 peared long ago. No — a number of formidable Ichneumon flies, with yet 

 longer ovipositors, are engaged in reducing the hosts of the enemies. 



Indeed every kind of destructive insect has its foes. Insectivorous birds 

 and predaceous insects, under ordinary circumstances, keep the spoilers within 

 bounds. And man may give his assistance to nature to the same end. For 

 instance, he can preserve the woodpeckers and the soft-billed birds. The 

 man who would shoot a woodpecker ought to be ostracized. I wish I could 

 hear more frequently the hearty laughing call of that noble bird the Bonneted 

 Woodpecker, Picus pileus. Alas, its beauty has been to it a "fatal gift." It 

 has drawn the attention of the fowler. 



There should be a law forbidding juveniles to carry guns. There is this 

 +0 be said, these gun-bearing boys lessen their own numbers. Many a young 

 rascal will go into the woods and think he has done a clever thing if he has 

 brought down a Wakeup or a Tom-tit. 



When a tree is found with Horn-tails affixed in the position I have men- 

 tioned, it may be known that that tree is doomed; it should be felled and 

 split up for stove-wood. 



The proper and timely burning of brush-piles will do much to lessen the 

 numbers of insects. Brush should be burned, not when the ground is covered 

 with dry herbage and dead leaves, but when vegetation is lush and green, and 

 then the fire and smoke would destroy their thousands of insect pests. 



