INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PINE. 1538 
of the hole, with the beetle within, as seen in Fig. 69. Fitch states that 
this and Monohammus scutellatus and marmoratus are the most common 
and pernicious borers which oceur in the pine timber of New York. 
On a still summer’s night as wellas in the day-time the peculiar grating 
or crunching noise which the larvee make in gnawing the wood may be 
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 bee- 
tles 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 dis- 
tance 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 space 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 larvie under the bark 
of the white pine (Pinus strobus), at Brunswick, Me.,* in the early part 
of June, but no pup: or beetles, though most of the larve 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 larvie 
must live nearly two years before transforming. My attention was 
called to their presence in the tree by the creaking sound made by the 
larve, the noise being heard a rod from the tree. Some of the larve 
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, I 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 pro- 
longation of lifefar beyond their natural term of existence. Further 
observations and experiments on this point are greatly needed. 
*T have also fonnd the cells under the bark of the white pine at Providence, R. I. 
