46 



FARMERS' BULLETIX S43. 



bud scar or adjacent to an offshoot, 

 Usually they are deposited in the 

 main stem of the branch, but if the 

 branch is of a good size som 



FIG. 56. The hickory twig-girdler: Pupa at 

 left, larva at right. Enlarged. 



are to be found occasionally hi offshoot- . 

 After the insertion of the eggs in the i 

 the puncture is sealed -with a shiny. 

 gummy substance, and the beetle then 

 scars the twig for a short distance below 

 the egg puncture. The number of eggs 

 per twig may range from 3 to 40, although 

 occasionally a severed branch without 

 any eggs is found. The egg stage lasts 

 about three weeks. 



The larvae (fig. 56, at right), which are 

 whitish, legless grubs, make little growth 

 duringthefall or winter months, but with 

 the advent of warm weather in the spring 

 they grow very rapidly. In making their 

 tunnels hi the twig (fig. 55, &; fig. 57) they 

 work usually toward the severed end and 

 feed only on the woody fibers, leaving the 

 bark intact. During the late spring or 

 early summer most of the larvae 1 make 

 a few circular holes hi the bark, from 

 which they cast out pellets of frass and 

 excrement. Just prior to transforma- 

 tion to pupa (fig. 56, at left) each larva 

 closes the end of its gallery with shredded 

 shavings, making the pupation quarters, 

 from which the adult emerges by gnawing 

 a more or less circular hole in the bark. 



A few larvae may not transform untfl the second season. 



FIG. 57. The hickory twig-girdler: Lar- 

 val burrow in cut-off pecan twig. 



