OP THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



173 



State of New York, it being scarcely known as an injuri- 

 ous insect in the East. The general color of the beetle 

 is ash-gray, marked with black as in the cut (fig. 112, c), 

 and with the scutel or small semi-circular space immedi- 

 ately behind the thorax, between the wings, of a yellow- 

 ish color. Its larval habits were for a long time un- 

 known, but it was recently ascertained that it breeds in 

 the twigs and tender branches of the Bur Oak; we have 

 good reason to believe that it also breeds in those of the 

 Pignut Hickory. The female, in 

 depositing, first makes a longitudi- 

 nal excavation with her jaws (fig. 

 112, a), eating upwards under the 

 bark towards the end of the branch, 

 and afterwards turns round to 

 thrust her egg into the excavation. 

 The larva (fig. 112, b), hatching 

 from the egg is of the usual pale- 

 yellow color with a tawny head. 

 We have watched the whole opera- 

 tion of depositing, and, returning 

 to the punctured twig a few days 

 after the operation was performed, 

 have cut out the young larva; but 

 we do not yet know how long a 

 time the larva needs to come to its 

 growth, nor whether it undergoes 

 its transformations within the branch, or leaves it for 

 this purpose, to enter the ground; though the former 

 hypothesis is the most likely. 



The same methods of catching this beetle may be em- 

 ployed as with the Plum Curculio, 



Fig. 112. NEW YORK WEE- 

 VIL (Ithy cents Novebora- 



censis, Forster.) 



a, Puncture ; b, Larva ; 



c, Beetle. 



