APPLE TWIGS, LOCUST EGGS, HOW DEPOSITED. 45 



his vicinity the oak and apple tree limbs were breaking off with 

 every wind, at the point where they had been operated upon by 

 the locusts, and that some of the trees were badly injured hereby. 

 The editor of the Farmer, in commenting upoji this communica- 

 tion, thinks that the damage will prove to be but slight, and will 

 in reality be that "heading in" which is often serviceable to fruit 

 trees. But it must be rare that our apple trees can be benefited 

 by any heading in, all experience showing that the perfection of 

 the fruit requires that this tree should be kept well trimmed, so 

 as to permit a free circulation of air and light among its branches; 

 and the same condition of this tree is one of ils best safeguards 

 against tree-hoppers^ plant-lice, and many other insect enemies 

 whick particularly prefer situations where the foliage is dense. 



In addition to the trees already mentioned, this insect deposits 

 its eggs in the poplar, the locust, the hazlenut, and probably in 

 all our deciduous trees and shrubs. The different species of wal- 

 nut and hickory, however, are said to be exempt from its attack. 

 It will probably prefer those trees having the twigs thick and ro- 

 bust, to those in which they are slender and flexile; it has even 

 been known, according to Dr. Harris, to commit its eggs to the 

 white cedar, but it is probable that pines and the evergreens 

 generally will be avoided by it. ^ 



Dr. Harris, (New England Insects, p. 184,) gives the following 

 description of the manner in which the female locust wounds the 

 twigs and deposits her eggs. They select those branches and 

 twigs which are of a moderate size. These they clasp on both 

 sides with their legs, and bending their ovipositor downwards at 

 an angle of about forty-five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it 

 obliquely into the bark and wood in a longitudinal direction, at 

 the same time putting in motion the lateral saws of the ovipositor, 

 and in this way detach small splinters of the wood at one end, 

 and tu/n them upwards, so as to form a kind of lid or cover to 

 the perforation. The hole is bored in a slanting direction, to the 

 pith, and }fy a repetition of the same operation, is gradually 

 enlarged, forming a longitudinal fissure of sufiicient extent to 

 receive from ten to twenty eggs. The lateral pieces of the ovi- 



