22 



The insect appears on the wing during the latter pai-tof May. The 

 female makes a number of curved gashes about the twig a few inches 

 from the tip, generally numerous and deep enough to cause the tip to 

 wither and often to break off, and deposits an egg in the stem an inch 

 or less below the cuts. The larva on hatching from the egg burrows 

 slowly down the stem, feeding on the pith, and reaches its full growth 

 in the autumn. It then spins a thin cocoon in which it hibernates. 

 In the spring it changes to a pupa and then to the adult. 



The mature larva* is a glistening, straw-yellow maggot, two-fifths 

 of an inch in length and about one-tenth in width. It is cj'lindrical 

 in form with a fleshy expansion, constricted between the segments, 

 along the sides ; this expansion or ridge gives the larva a broader 

 appearance when viewed from above than from the side. The head 

 is smooth and glistening, slightly darker and not more than half as 

 wide as the body. The mouth parts are dark brown and the mandi- 

 bles are tipped with black. The thoracic segments are somewhat 

 more swollen than the abdominal ones and bear rudimentary feet. 

 The dorsal vessel shows through the back as a narrow, dark stripe. 

 On the upper side at the end of the thirteenth or last segment is a 

 minute, dark spine. When much magnified this spine is seen to be 

 slightl}^ bind at the tip and surrounded at the base by smaller spines. 

 A small, round, reddish spot occurs in the middle of the lateral fold 

 on segments seven to twelve inclusive. On either side below the 

 terminal spine is a similarly colored linear marking, and above, 

 immediately in front of the spine, is a short, transverse, more deeply 

 coloi'ed marking. 



The simplest method to hold this insect in check is to trim off and 

 burn all the canes that have been girdled, two inches or more below 

 the point of injury, as soon as the girdling is noticed. The egg, 

 which, as has been noted, is deposited an inch or less below the 

 girdle, will then be destroyed. 



*No description of tlie larva, as far as we are aware, lias liitlierto been published . 



