84 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



In our plate, taken from nature, we were only able 

 to show the larvae at work, not having seen the perfect 

 insects working in the same way as that indicated by 

 Mr. Froggatt. One singular fact, as noted by Mr. 

 Froggatt, is that, in the New South Wales orchards, 

 this beetle suddenly disappeared, only to reappear again 

 in ten years' time. I will allude to this matter later on. 



The late Mr. S. Olliff, then Entomologist at the 

 Australian Museum, Sydney, remarks: ( We have no 

 knowledge of the way in which the parent beetle 

 deposits its egg ; but, from what we know of the habits 

 of other weevils, it is highly probable that the insect 

 bores a hole with its long slender rostrum in the bark 

 of the tree, and afterwards deposits its egg within it. 

 When the egg hatches, the young larva bores its way 

 into the wood. The exact period between the laying of 

 each egg has not been observed as far as I am aware, 

 nor is it known for certain how long a time elapses 

 before the insect attains maturity, although we have 

 good reason for assuming that the period is a somewhat 

 lengthy one, possiblv extending to a year or there- 

 abouts." 



The perfect insects are met with plentifully through- 

 out the spring and summer, and it would appear that 

 the larvae do not confine their work of destruction to 

 this season, but feed busily all the autumn and winter. 

 It is only after the emergency of the perfect insects that 

 the timber shows any obvious signs of the destruction 

 going on within, when they make their way out of the 

 stems, leaving behind them holes measuring about a 

 quarter of an inch in circumference. 



If a section of an affected limb is made previous to 

 the emergency of the perfect beetles, smooth circular 

 tunnels will be found traversing it in various directions ; 

 and at the extremities of these tunnels, at the point 

 furthest removed from the original opening or orifice, 

 the larvae or pupae will be found. The tunnels are 

 lined with triturated wood. 



