THE SOUTHEKN PINE SAWYER. 



HABITS. 



51 



Preparatory to laying the eggs, the female digs with her mandibles 

 quite a conspicuous egg pit in the bark (figs. 18, a, and 21, c). This 

 pit is more or less funnel shaped, though sometimes it is merely a 

 transverse slit, and reaches as far as the outermost layer of soft, sappy 

 bark. The female, while digging the egg pit, is generally accompanied 

 by the male, who clasps the posterior end of her body with his fore- 

 legs, and frequently fertilizes her while she is digging the pit. In 

 one instance where the operation was noted, the female did not dis- 

 continue digging while copulation took place. Many combats take 



I 



Fig. 18. — The pine sawyer: o. Egg pit; 6, eggs in position in which they were placed by female, the 

 outer bark being removed. About one-hall natural size. (Original.) 



place between males for the possession of a female during oviposition. 

 The ovipositor is thrust into the egg pit and in between the soft, 

 sappy bark and the first layer of outer hard bark, and the eggs are 

 deposited in a circle around the bottom of the egg pit, the egg (or 

 the end of the egg nearest the pit) being placed from one-eighth to 

 one-quarter of an inch away from the egg pit (see fig. 18, 6). As 

 many as nine eggs have been found deposited through a single pit 

 opening. 



In about five days these eggs hatch, and the small laivse issuing 

 therefrom begin feeding upon the soft inner bark, and soon work their 

 way through it, but do not enter the wood until they have attained 

 considerable growth. During this period they make irregular gal- 

 leries through the inner bark just next to the wood, deriving their 

 entire sustenance from the bark and making no marks or cuttings 

 upon the wood. In from eighteen to tliirty-two days after hatching 

 the larvae mine into the sap wood (fig. 19). A few days previous 

 to this they are to be found cutting rather broad, irregular paths upon 

 the surface of the sap wood with their mandibles (fig. 19, i). This 

 process is called "scoring." After making the entrance into the 

 wood the larvae come out again to feed upon the inner bark, evidently 



