5 
partly of their castings and, with their heads pointing toward the bark, 
transform to pupe. With the approach of May and June they cut 
their way out by means of their powerful mandibles and issue through 
a round hole as mature beetles. A larva was observed by the writer 
at the Department of Agriculture that pupated May 11, and appeared 
as adult May 30, thus giving nineteen days for the pupal period, the 
weather being seasonable. 
NATURAL ENEMIES. 
Concealed as this insect is during its three years of existence in its 
preparatory stages, it is nevertheless a prey to natural enemies which 
seek and devour it in its haunts under the bark. Of this number are 
woodpeckers and hymenopterous insect parasites. Of the latter only 
a single species is known to the writer, Cenocelius populator Say.* 
METHODS OF CONTROL. 
After borers have once entered a tree there is no better remedy 
known than to cut them out with a knife or other sharp instrument. 
In the treatment of this insect an ounce of prevention is worth several 
pounds of cure. Cutting the borers out, unless practiced with the 
greatest care, is apt to result in injury, and it is far better to prevent 
the parent insects from depositing their eggs upon the tree. This is 
not difficult of accomplishment, as oviposition is practically confined 
to two months in any single locality, usually June and July. The best 
preventives are impenetrable substances placed about the trunk and 
various washes of a repellent nature. 
Cutting out by hand.—Little has been gained in the line of direct 
remedies for this borer until recent years. The early writers had noth- 
ing better to advise than cutting out the larve, either with a knife or 
gouge, or killing them by inserting a wire into their burrows. These 
remedies were in use early in the present century and are still the ones 
most often practiced. It isno uncommon thing to find four or more 
larvee in a single small trunk, and the cutting out of all of them, if not . 
practiced with the greatest caution, is apt to result in the girdling of 
the tree, if, indeed, this has not already been accomplished by the com- 
bined attack of the borers themselves. It would seem superfluous to 
add that it is best to cut the borers out as soon as detected. Their 
presence may be known bya little experience, some persons being so 
expert in detecting their exact location as to be able to kill them with 
a knife thrust or by the puncture of an aw] or other sharp instrument. 
The fruit grower should institute a practice of inspection so that the 
borers may be removed as often as found. 
[Cir. 32] 
