MOUNTAIN TREES 



portion of the second pair of legs against 

 the outer edge of the wing covers. Dur- 

 ing the late summer the female lays, by 

 my actual count, from 200 to 250 

 eggs, each about as large as a small, nar- 

 row, rice kernel, in the crevices of the 

 bark of some dying tree. These hatch 

 into small larvae with powerful sickle- 

 shaped jaws capable of boring through 

 the wood like an auger. Often if you will 

 put your ear up to the dying tree you 

 can hear the crunching and grinding of 

 the jaws. The larvae grow larger and 

 larger eating the wood as they go, leav- 

 ing the tunnels behind them packed 

 with woody chips. At a certain stage of 

 growth a cell is partitioned off with 

 chips just beneath the bark and there 

 the borers lie dormant for many months 

 while those mysterious changes take 

 place which transform the soft-bodied 

 grubs into mature adults. 



37 



