Saperda populnea. 



The operations of the female beetle for oviposition are both 

 interesting and remarkable. Emerging from a gall during 

 the month of June or early in July, she is speedily mated, 

 and soon afterwards begins oviposition. She selects a suitable 

 branch, and with her jaws gnaws a hole through the bark 

 and a little way into the underneath layer of woody cells. 

 In this hole she deposits one ovum, and passes along further 

 to repeat the operation. The distance between each insertion 

 is generally from 30 to 40 mm. It is seldom that there are 

 more than four insertions in succession on the same branch. 

 As soon as the larva hatches, it eats its way into the pith, 

 and the swelling of the surrounding material begins. The 

 place in the bark where the egg was inserted does not heal ; 

 the enlargement of the woody layer beneath causes it to gape 

 more and more as time passes, and a scar-like appearance is 

 the result. The larva feeds upon the pith, eating galleries 

 above and below the point at which it hatched. It remains 

 in the larval condition until the second autumn, when it pupates, 

 and, remaining through the winter in that condition, emerges 

 during May or June following — a period of twenty-two or 

 twenty- three months after birth. In order to emerge it gnaws 

 a circular hole from the larval chamber to the surface of the 

 branch, and this hole generally opens on the opposite side of 

 the branch to that on which the oviposition scar is situated. 



The illustration is of specimens gathered at Hastings by 

 the author. 



