Insects, etc., Jnju)ious to tJie Pluin. 



369 



-4;;. — iM.Kiirr iinu.; (Ai of shot 





When ready to Latch the pup;e are packed fairly close together, 

 and this acconuts for tlie ju'eseuce of so many beelles packed like 

 shot in the tunnels. 



'Idle niaLin'ots feed on a giey and black layer lining these tunnels, 



a sul)sta,uce called by 



Scliiiudlierger and others 

 " ^Lvihj'o.^/ii." This lining 

 has been desciibed b)' Ijiidi- 

 lioff as formed ffom the sa]i 

 which soaks out of the walls 

 of the tunnels and which 

 thick'ens into a white egg- 

 like coagulation, and on 

 this a coatin" of fundus 

 develops ; after a, time the surface of tlie circular galleries liecomes 

 black. He tells us that these coagulations and fungoid urowtlis 

 serve solely as the food of the Shot Borer Maggots. ^Vs many as 

 thirty or forty ova are laid by each female. These are laid at 



dilfereut times on till dune. Thus 

 we find maggots of various sizes 

 close together and all derived fi'om 

 the same parent. 



The tunnel foiiued by this iusect 

 is at first made to the centre, and 

 then another is cut horizoutall}', run- 

 ning }>a.rt of the way around the stem 

 (jr branch, about ,!, inch across, this 

 ciri.'ular tuuuel inay lie close under 

 the sa.pwood or right in the w(.)od ; 

 ii'om this horizontal gallery others 

 are drilled at right angles both uj) 

 and down the stem, these ma,}' reach 

 1 inch in length. 



It is in these tunnels in which 

 we hnd the beetles packed like shot 

 itinrii.r Kffi.jht. j^ September, and here the beetles 



Fir.. :!44.-SIInT BMKKR BUETLli ('^.^.J j^,, ^^.g]^ ,, g ^Ijg maCTU'OtS. The 



{.\-:/lehur,Li<i:.iian '-'. 



beetles seem to occur with us m 

 January, February, May, September, on to December. The larvre 

 appear to grow rapidly, and by mid dune beetles appear. During 

 the year 1908 some hatched in November. 



When first hatched they are soft and reddish, and tliey 



2 B 



