INSECTS AFFECTING PARK AND WOODLAND TREES 



341 



Pitch-mass borer 



Parliari)io)iia piiii Kcllicott 

 Large brownisli pitch masses on piiic trunks may be caused by this borer. 



This species is one of the more common pine borers and evidences of 

 Its work are by no means rare in the vicinity of Albany. Its recorded dis- 

 tribution is given as Canada, New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire. 

 The h'fe history of this species has been worked out very fully by the 

 late Dr Kellicott, its describer, and the following is taken largely from 

 his account. 



Description. Male. Head, palpi, antennae, thorax, and legs wholly 

 metallic blue or green black. Collar edged with orange in front. Abdo- 

 men blue black above, with the posterior half of the fourth segment orange ; 

 underside wholly orange. Anal tuft orange, blue black above in the mid- 

 dle. Fore wings opaque, metallic blue or green black with discal mark 

 somewhat deeper in color. Hind wings thinly covered with blue black 

 scales ; outer border very narrow, blue black. 



Female. Same as the male. 



Expanse : male and female, 28-30 mm (Beutenmuller). 



Life history. The larvae occur more frequentl)' than elsewhere just 

 below a branch, sometimes about the border of a wound made by the axe, 

 or where a limb has been wrenched off by the wind, rarely in the axils of 

 the branches. It appears to attack larger trees than Zimmerman's pine 

 pest and more frequently occurs at a considerable hight, having been taken 

 30 to 40 feet from the ground. While the larvae as a rule probably take 

 advantage of the broken cortex, Dr Kellicott found instances of where they 

 had worked through the bark into the soft layers. Pupae are to be found 

 the last of May and the moths appear from the middle to the end of June 

 and possibly others come forth in July and August, for Dr Kellicott found 

 seemingly fully grown larvae in July, though some apparently mature cater- 

 pillars taken July 15th remained in their pitch cells unchanged till the 

 following November. 



According to the observations of Dr Kellicott three years are recpiired, 

 in some instances, to complete the life cycle. The larvae run more or less 



