SPOTTED APPLE-TREE BOREE. 7 



day. Near evening they become more active, flying, feeding, copu- 

 lation, and oviposition being engaged in most freely about sundown, 

 although all these activities extend into the night. The beetles feed 

 rather freely on the tender bark, a favorite place for feeding being 

 the thickened bark around the base of small twigs. 



TIME OF EMERGENCE OF BEETLES. 



According to Osborne, 1 the beetles appear in Iowa about the middle 

 of June. Wolcott states, in correspondence with the writer, that 

 the beetles have been taken in Illinois from June 12 to July 20. In 

 1916 the writer found that apparently the last of the beetles had 

 emerged at East Lansing, Mich., on June 26. On June 15, 1917, 

 however, emergence had not yet begun in the same locality. At 

 French Creek, W. Va., beetles issued in 1919 from May 14 to 31, as 

 indicated in Table I. 



Table I. — Time of emergence of beetles of the spotted apple-tree borer at French Creek, 



W. Va., in 1919. 



Date. 



Number of beetles. 



Males. 



Females. 



Total. 



May 14 



1 

 1 

 2 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 2 

 1 

 

 

 



H-'l-'h-'t-'l-'OOOOOOO 



1 



15 



1 



19 





20 



1 



22 



1 



24 



1 



25 



1 



26 



•3 



27 



r 



28 



1 



29 -. 



1 



31 



1 







Total 



11 



5 



If 







It appears from the foregoing data that emergence may take place 



from the first of May to the last of June, according to locality and 



climatic conditions. It is very probable that the beetles appear 



before the first of May in the more southerly localities of the species' 



range. 



OVIPOSITION. 



The interesting process of oviposition begins a week or two after 

 the eggs are fertilized. As has been stated, the female usually selects 

 the upper part of the trunk of young trees or branches an inch or 

 two in diameter in which to place her eggs. Occasionally the ovi- 

 position scar is in the form of a small, somewhat circular opening in 

 the bark, but more frequently it is a deep, narrow gash in the bark, 

 often accompanied with a more or less prolonged line of pricks ex- 

 tending vertically from one or both ends of the gash. (PI. Ill, A-C. ) 



1 Osborne, Henry, op. cit. 



