THE PINE BORER OR " SAWYER." 687 



distinctly heard at a distance of eight or ten rods. <' That the insect 

 does not open a passage out of the wood, whereby to make its exit, 

 until it attains its perfect state, I infer from the fact that several of 

 these beetles gnawed their way out of one of the pillars of the portico 

 of a newly-built house in my neighborhood some years since, the noise 

 being heard several days before they emerged, and while they were 

 still some distance in the interior of the wood." (Fitch.) 



Mr. Bowditch found, June 9, at Brookline, Mass., this species in 

 Pinus mitis, the yellow pine, in which were several holes about the size 

 of a pencil. He makes the following statement in regard to its habits: 



On removing the bark I found an adult insect already free — the heads of several 

 others appearing through the wood. On further investigation during the next few 

 weeks I obtained from the tree no less than eighty of these beetles in all stages of 

 development, which, considering the size of the tree, was a large number. I observed 

 that the largest beetles were near the foot of the tree. » » * After remaining in 

 the pupa state during a apace of time, which varies according to circumstances, it is 

 transformed to a beetle, and after a short time gnaws its way out, appearing from 

 the first of June to the middle of July. 



I have found numbers, at least twenty, of these larvae under the bark 

 of the white pine {Pinus strobus), at Brunswick, Me.,* in the early part 

 of June, but no pupse or beetles, though most of the larvae were fully 

 grown. Some were one-half an inch long and had, without much doubt, 

 hatched from eggs laid in the preceding June or July, so that the larvae 

 must live nearly two years before transforming. My attention was 

 called to their presence in the tree by the creaking sound made by the 

 larvae, the noise being heard a rod from the tree. Some of the larvae 

 were molting. In this process the entire head of the tegument about 

 to be cast is pushed off anteriorly, while the thin skin of the rest of 

 the body peels off from the prothorax backwards. 



Mr. A. C. Goodell, of Salem, Mass., presented the museum of the 

 Peabody Academy with an adult of this species which came from a pine 

 bureau about the year 1875. The bureau had been in his house for 

 about fifteen years previous, being newly made when purchased. The 

 family had heard the creaking noise for some time before the insect 

 appeared ; and, after inquiring into the circumstances, 1 have no doubt 

 but that the insect had lived in the bureau for fully fifteen years. 



This longevity is probably due to the fact that the insect had not 

 coupled, it being well known that continence in insects leads to the 

 prolongation of life far beyond their natural term of existence. Fur- 

 ther observations and experiments on this point are greatly needed. 



Apropos of this interesting subject I quote the following observa- 

 tions of Dr. Fitch : 



The wood of the apple tree was formerly highly valued for cabinet work in this 

 country. In 1786 a son of General Israel Putnam, residing in Williamstown, Mass., 

 had a table made from one of his apple trees. Many years afterward the gnawing 



* I have also found the cells under the bark of the white pine at Providence, R. I. 



