202 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
times as long as broad. Usually but one egg is deposited at the base of an 
offshoot, though often four or five are deposited, not only below but at the side 
of and above the offshoot. The number of eggs deposited in one branch varies 
from one to a dozen, and even higher. The eggs laid during the summer hatch 
in less than two weeks, but those laid late in the fall often take longer. In many 
instances the larve do not emerge from the latter till spring. 
The larve are whitish in color, with the mouth-parts tinged with brown. 
During the winter months they remain in a dormant state, but as soon as the 
warm days of spring appear they commence to make rapid growth. The mois- 
ture of the winter months has brought the interior wood of the twig to a proper 
stfite for the larves todevour. The larvae now commence to burrow. They gradu- 
ally excavate a channel from the point where the egg is deposited. This they 
lengthen and broaden, but always leaving the bark intact. Asarule, two suc- 
cessive offshoots on the same side of the twig form the termini for one channel. 
In twigs containing a large number of larve scarcely anything will be left beyond 
a thin covering of bark and thin, irregular partitions within, which separate the 
larve. About the middle of July the larvze, having blocked up all openings and 
cracks and the ends of their channels, pass into the pupal stage, which lasts for 
about two weeks, when the adults appear. 
As they are approaching maturity, the larvee seem to be especially active. It 
is at this stage of their development that a peculiar clicking sound is to be no- 
ticed, particularly so if the infested twigs are brought into a quiet room. One 
unacquainted with the habits of the insect would not unlikely mistake the noise 
for the ticking of watches. To produce the sound, the larve hold the posterior 
part of their bodies in a rigid position by mée&ns of sharp spines which they 
thrust into the sides of their channels, while they sway the anterior part from 
side to side, catching the tips of their mandibles into the woody tissue. This 
seems to be a quicker method for cutting the small shavings and splinters which 
are necessary to fill all openings into the channels. 
