80 DR. HARRIS’S REPORT. April, 
Rhynchenus pales inhabits the trunks of the pitch and perhaps 
other pines. ‘The perfect insect is very common on palings, the 
trunks of pines, the sides of houses, &c. in May and June. 
Rhynchenus Strobi was first described by the late Prof. Peck. 
It attacks the leading shoot of the Pinus strobus, or white pine. 
‘* ‘The lofty stature of this tree depends upon the constant health of 
its leading shoot, for a long succession of years.”? If the leading 
shoot be destroyed, the tree becomes deformed, and the trunk rises 
no higher, until some one of the topmost branches assumes an as- 
cending direction, and becomes an irregular kind of leading shoot. 
This accident is not uncommon, and is effected by this insect. Its 
eggs are deposited on the leading shoot, probably immediately under 
the epidermis. The larve, when hatched, immediately commence 
feeding on the wood. ‘It is probable,” says Prof. Peck, ‘ that 
they remain in the wood more than one year, and the shoot dies the 
second year after the eggs are placed in it. The larva is a soft 
white grub, with only the head shelly, and armed with, strong mandi- 
bles.” ‘* When the feeding state is passed, and before the pupa 
state comes on, it prepares an exit for itself by opening a passage 
outwards, but leaves the exterior skin of the bark untouched, so that 
it is perfectly secured from any injury by rain. The pupa remains 
quiet for a time, and the perfect insect has only to cut away the epi- 
dermis to escape. The perfect insects begin to come out early in 
September, and continue to leave the wood through that month and 
apart of October. The shoot at that time is pierced on all sides 
with small round holes ; sometimes thirty or forty may be counted in 
one shoot.’’ ‘‘ But an unlimited increase is not permitted to this 
destructive insect; if it were, our forests would scarce produce a 
single mast.’”? One of the means appointed to restrain the increase 
of the white-pine weevil, is a species of ichneumon fly endued with 
Sagacity to discover the retreat of the larva, the body of which 
it perforates with its sting, and therein deposits an egg. From 
the egg of the Ichneumon is hatched a grub which devours the larva 
of the weevil, and then transforms to a perfect insect in its habitation. 
The most effectual remedy against the increase of these weevils 
is to cut off the shoot in August, or as soon as it is perceived to 
be dead, and commit it with its inhabitants to the fire. Such is 
