EEPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 323 



a prreat persistence of fonu iu boriu.ir prriibs, both of the "weevil family 

 ami the 'oark-borers or Scolytids. The grub of Pissodes strohi (Plate 

 IX, Fi.i^. 1 a) is rather slenderer than those of ITylurgus, Dendroctonus, 

 or Tfitlurgops i)in'>fex. Compared with the latter very common borer 

 the lK)civ is S""" in length, while that ol R. pinifex is only 6™° to C°^ in 

 lesi-th. " 



"While from their similar tnnnelmaking habits the larvae of the two 

 families mentioned are, owing to adaptation to their surroundings, very 

 similar, the jnipo) are very unlike, those of the "White-pine Weevil being 

 at a glance distinguishable by their long snout, which is folded on the 

 breast : and the beetle, as seen in the ligure, has a long, slender snout, 

 while the body is reddish-brown,* with two irregular white spots, one 

 behind the middle of each wing-cover. "When engaged iu laying their 

 eggs at the reddish-browu extremity of a pine twig, near the buds, 

 those weevils are uiuh-ubtedly protected by their shape and color from 

 the observation of birds, some kinds of which are constantly on the 

 search for such beetles. 



"While living in their " mines " or tunnels, the grubs are exposed to 

 manifold dangers from carnivorous grubs, particularly the young ot 

 beetles of the family Tcncbrionida', &c. "We have not detected any Ich- 

 neumon or Chalcid larvas or ilies in their burrows, but these are not un- 

 common in those of the Scol^-tid bark-borers. At all events these insect 

 enemies keep the larval pine-wee\'ils within due limits, otherwise their 

 injurious eltects in forests would be more marked. 



The presence of the grub of the ^Vhite-piDe Weevil in a branch or 

 twig or under the bark of a young or old tree, may be at once known by 

 its peculiar cells. When the grub is full-fed and ready to change to the 

 chrysalis state, it either transforms within a small branch in the pith or 

 under the bark. In the latter case it sinks an oval-cylindrical hole in 

 the pith wood, and builds up over it, in the space between the loosened 

 bark and the wood itself a white covering, composed of the long chips 

 or fibers of the pith wood, the little fibers being closely interwoven and 

 matted together, so as to form a cocoon of a tolerably firm consistence, 

 which contrasts in its white color with the under side of the bark. The 

 cocoon thus made is not usually, if ever, lined with silk. The length of 

 the entire cell is 12'""' ; its breadth is G"""'. Uylurgus terebrans con- 

 structs similar cells, but they are jnuch smaller. ^Most of the bark- 

 borers, however, do not transform in such cells, but in their tunnels. 



While the insect is especially abundant in Maine, I have also found 

 it iu abundance in September on tlie ornamental white i)iue bushes on 

 the grounds of the State Agricultural College, at xVmherst, Mass. When 

 the white pine is set out on plantations it lias thus far iDcen tolerably 

 free from the attacks of this pest. On the extensive plantation of Henry 

 G. Russell, esq., at Greenwich, I*. I., who has planted trees on a larger 

 scale than any one else iji Xew England, only scattered trees have been 

 affected. Fig. 2, Plate IX, lias been drawn from a lerminal twig on 

 one of these trees. Part of the twig Avas mined under the bark, the 

 tunnels ran close together, there being seven or eight on one side of a 

 twig about a third of an inch iji diauieter. They run itp and down the 

 twig, more or less i)arallel, beginning small, when the larva hatched, 

 and becoming slightly larger as the grub grew, until at the end of i or 

 5 inches they sink into the cell, the grub having become full-fed and 

 making its cell for its final transforuKition. 



When the pith is mined, the cells form enlargements of the tunnel, 

 and in the case before us the cells are so thick as t'o touch each other, 

 there being six ceils in a length of not over 2 inches. When the cells 



