112 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9 



still in leaf, is sufficient to break off the limb and it drops to the ground. 

 The egg when first deposited is snowy white in appearance, is oblong 

 in shape and from 2.5 to 3 mm. in length, averaging 2.75 mm. 



Injury 

 When nurseries are adjacent to forests the damage may be very 

 severe and the greater amount of damage is caused by beetles which 

 have migrated from other trees to the pecan. Many branches are 

 severed which would bear nuts the succeeding year. In the nursery 

 row small trees are severed near the ground and one insect may do a 

 surprisingly great damage in that respect. The wounds made give an 

 opportunity for fungous diseases to enter although this damage in our 

 observation has not been well marked. Some damage is done in 

 checking the growth of the tree. On trees whose branches are to be 

 used as wood for budding, the loss is very great as this is the wood which 

 is usually severed. 



Life-History 



The first females begin to emerge about the 25th of August and they 

 continue to emerge until the first of October. After turning from the 

 pupal stage they remain in the larval burrow for from 2 to 10 days and 

 then emerge by eating a small round hole through the limb. 



From 12 to 29 days after the female emerges, oviposition commences 

 and continues in those cases we have observed until the female dies. 

 The number of eggs deposited varies from 50 to 207 but the average 

 female deposits about 175. Oviposition is begun by the first females 

 the latter part of September and continues until in December. The 

 greatest infestation occurs from the 12th to the 20th of October. In a 

 few cases the females have lived until the last of December but most of 

 them die by the first of December. The first freeze kills those that 

 have not died from natural causes. 



The females live from 42 to 84 days, and the males about the same 

 length of time. 



The eggs hatch in from 17 to 30 days after they are deposited, the 

 average time of hatching being 23 to 25 days. The larva emerges 

 from the egg by eating its way out by means of the mandibles. It at 

 once begins to hollow out a small cavity in the branch and keeps on 

 feeding all winter. Several larvae may develop in one branch. A very 

 small number of larvae develop in proportion to the number of eggs that 

 are laid so'one seldom finds more than three or four larvae in a girdled 

 twig. 



The larvae burrow in the girdled twigs until the following summer, 

 the larval stage lasting from 288 to 328 days. Before pupating the 



