June, I9I3-] BiRD : PASSING OF THE HiCKORY NUT. 125 



fested with certainty. Even then only the upper portions may be 

 involved, and any one w^ould naturally hesitate to take out such a tree. 

 But it is in this short time from May first to the middle of June that 

 the evidence must be weighed and the removal made, if such operation 

 is to be of any avail at all. 



In my little burg of Rye, the four and a half square miles under 

 incorporation contain many hundred trees dead and dying from these 

 attacks, but nothing short of an earthquake could get the thirty-five 

 hundred property holders to act in sufficient unison in destroying the 

 larvae at a proper time, when what would seem a sacrifice of their 

 own trees was for the general good of mankind, and for their neighbor 

 in particular. 



I think we must look in another direction and confine saving treat- 

 ment to parks, lawns, and preserves where the owner is willing to 

 incur some expense, and the management is under competent super- 

 vision. There are other ways to save a few of the hickories, I am 

 very sure. 



Briefly reviewing the life history we find the beetles coming forth 

 from the last of June to the middle of July; they do not mate at once 

 but flock around the trees, or fly to new territory. They are on the 

 wing, so to speak, all through July and take some sustenance apparently 

 in chewing into the bases of the leaf petiole. Here they mine a little 

 cavity, large enough to crawl in, and this work subsequently causes 

 the leaf to fall. They often mate in these borings, but it is not till 

 well in August that the females are in condition to place their eggs. 

 This they do by chewing a hole through the bark to the sapwood, of 

 the trunk and larger branches, beginning at, and including usually 

 the upper third of the tree. The boring is enlarged underneath the 

 bark, in this cell the eggs are placed, and in a few weeks the larvae 

 hatch out. This brings us to the middle of September. Up to the 

 time the larvae hatch no harm is done, but whatever we do by way of 

 prevention must be effective by that date. 



Two methods of treatment are suggested, one, where a repellent is 

 used at the time the beetles oviposit, some ill-smelling spray like 

 whale-oil soap which will cause them to shun the tree ; the second, 

 and probably safer method, is to treat the little holes leading to the 

 egg cells with something that will fix the eggs and yet not injure the 

 tree. The latter is not quite the task it might seem since the females 



