REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 03 



The Life History and Habits. 



The adult beetles nearly all leave the faded tips in the latter part of the 

 season betvveen July and September, and pass the winter apparently 

 in any convenient hiding-place. In the following season, during April, 

 May and June, they may be found upon the terminals of young 

 growth pairing and egg-laying. The eggs hatch in about a week, and 

 the young grubs feed upon the inner bark, working downwards and more 

 or less completely destroying the bark on the injured portion. Finally, 

 when mature, about midsummer, they bore into the wood, penetrating to 

 the pith on the younger wood. In the enlarged ends of the tunnels chip- 

 cocoons are constructed, and in these the larvae pupate and later transform 

 to the adult beetles. The young beetles bore a round hole through the 

 bark and escape, chiefly during July and August, and hibernate until the 

 following spring. 



Control Measures 



The injury by the weevil can be checked on nursery rows, in plantations, 

 and on reproduction valuable enough to warrant the attention required. 

 Trees between five and twenty-five feet high are attacked. The faded tops 

 should be cut before the beetles emerge from them, and either burned or 

 stored in boxes or barrels covered at each end with fine wire netting. The 

 latter method is preferable since it retains the beetles while allowing the 

 valuable parasites to escape. After cold weather comes most of the beetles will 

 be dead and the screens may be removed, but the pine tops should be left 

 until the following June to permit the development and escape of the larger, 

 late developing parasites. 



Two thorough collections of the fading tops, made late in June and 

 again about the middle of July, will help materially in checking the injury, 

 and the practice should be carried out each season as long as the trouble 

 continues to develop. Natural reproduction near the nursery or plantation 

 may, if uncared for, be responsible for serious reinfestation. Valuable 

 young growth may be further protected by collecting the egg-laying beetles 

 from the terminals. From the time the beetles appear on the terminals, 

 in the first warm weather in April, until the middle of June, theadults may be 

 collected and destroyed. They rnay be taken in an insect net by striking 

 the bow against the base of the terminal so that the beetles fall into the net, 

 or by holding the net against the base of the terminal and striking the upper 

 part of the latter on the opposite side with a stick. If the trees are small 

 a pan containing a little kerosene may be used instead of a net, and the beetles 



