S HA DE T R EE iN SE € Ts 
69. Symptoms. Unless the trees are closely watched, the first 
indication of the presence of these borers is the gradual decline or 
the death of the tree, or the breaking of the trunk in a storm near 
the ground. 
70. If the trees are carefully examined each May and Septem- 
ber, the borers can be located in the trunk close to the ground. You 
can detect their presence by means of the small areas of discolored 
or dead bark, or by the sawdust expelled from the burrows. 
71. Habits. The adult is a light brown, cylindrical beetle, 
with the antenne as long as the body, and with two silvery white 
stripes running the full length of the back. It emerges through a 
round hole in the bark. In size it is about three-quarters of an 
inch long. It flies by night and is seldom seen in the daytime. 
The eggs are mostly laid in slits in the bark near the surface of 
the ground. Occasionally, however, the eggs are laid farther up 
the trunk or upon the larger limbs. 
72. The larve on hatching burrow downward through the 
bark, expelling orange-colored castings from the opening. For a 
time they feed just under the bark. The first winter is passed in 
the sap-wood at or below the surface of the soil, in a dormant con- 
dition; but the larvz begin feeding again in the spring. The sec- 
ond summer the sap-wood is mined at the base of the tree or below 
the ground, in many cases being entirely girdled by the borer. 
73. ‘The second winter is passed near the surface of the ground, 
and in the second spring a burrow is made upward through the 
heart-wood, curving outside, and finally ending just under the outer 
bark. After plugging the hole with sawdust at both sides, the larva 
pupates about an inch back from the bark and emerges as the beetle 
in May, June or July, thus feeding for nearly two years within the 
tree. Most of these beetles come out in June. 
74. Control. Digging out the young larve in October of each 
year, when they are’ still in the inner bark, is probably the safest 
and surest method of control. The use of the repellent washes de- 
scribed in Paragraphs 41-44 of Lesson Eight is also strongly rec- 
ommended to prevent egg laying, but the trees must be protected 
from May until July, through the whole egg laying period. 
75. The trees can also be protected by wrapping the trunk with 
wire cloth, paper or other mechanical protectors, to prevent the 
beetles from reaching the base of the tree. Vigorous, rapidly grow- 
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