536 



HYMEXOPTERA. 



Fig. 250. 



that the body of this tree, two or three feet from the ground, 

 was pierced with many small holes, to the depth of an inch 

 or more, and in these holes there were great numbers of 

 larvaa, about one sixth of an inch in length, which he sup- 

 posed were hatched from the eggs seen there before ; and 

 he came to the conclusion that the tree was " destroyed 

 by the deadly needles of the winged insect" above men- 

 tioned.* The latter was subsequently sent to me for exam- 

 ination, and enabled me to furnish an account of it, which, 

 with a description of the male insect, was published in Jan- 

 uary, 1827, in the fifth volume of the " New England 

 Farmer." 



The insect proved to be the Sirex Columba of Linna3us, 

 or Tremex Columba of modern naturalists. Sirex is a cor- 

 ruption of the Greek 

 name for a wild bee ; 

 Tremex signifies a per- 

 forator, or maker of 

 holes ; and Columba a 

 pigeon. The body of 

 the female (Fig. 250) 

 is cylindrical, about as 

 thick as a common lead- 

 pencil, and an inch and 

 a half or more in length, 

 exclusive of the borer, 

 which is an inch long, 

 and projects three eighths of an inch beyond the end of 

 the body. The latter rounds upwards, like the stem of 

 a boat, and is armed with a point or short horn. The 

 head and the thorax are rust-colored, varied with black. 

 The abdomen, or hinder and longest part of the body, is 

 black, with seven ochre-yellow bands across the back, all 

 of them but the first two interrupted in the middle. The 

 horned tail, and a round spot before it, impressed as if 



See New England Farmer, Vol. V. pp. 167, 175, 186, and 211. 



