346 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE SOUTHERN PINE SAWYER. 

 (Monahammus titillator Fab.) 



Within recent years the States of the extreme south have suffered 

 severely from cyclones and other windstorms. An immense amount 

 of pine timber has been felled by these storms. In practically every 

 case great damage has been done to the fallen timber by the southern 

 pine sawyer over the entire area covered by the storm. It has been 

 estimated that during the years 1906, 1907, and 1908 the pecuniary 

 loss from this source in the Southern States was over $ 



FIG. 21. Work of the southern pine sawyer (Monohammus titillator). Section of 

 trunk of storm-felled longleaf pine, showing : a, Egg pit in bark ; 6, entrance hole of 

 larva into wood ; c, pupal cell ; d, emergence hole ; e, g, h, sections of larval mines ; 

 f, scored surface of wood, scoring done by larva preparatory to entering wood ; i, larva ; 

 /, adult. Insect one-half natural size. (Original.) 



This insect never attacks healthy trees, but only those already 

 dead, dying, or felled. The damage to each tree or log is the work 

 of the larvae or grubs which, after first mining in the bark, mine in and 

 through the sapwood, and even penetrate the heartwood, making large 

 unsightly holes (see fig. 21) which cause the lumber made from this 

 portion of the log to be thrown into the lowest grade, known to the 

 lumberman as " No. 2 common." The larva is an elongate, footless, 

 white grub (see fig. 21, i). The size varies considerably in different 



1 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, Bui. 58, Part IV, p. 45. 



