196 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
completed in 1 year, but in the northern part of the range, larvae from 
eggs laid late in the summer may not complete dev elopment and 
emerge as adults until the second spring. 
This species has attracted considerable attention, as it attacks green 
hemlocks weakened from defoliation, drastic thinning, drought, flood- 
ing, or other causes. Secrest, MacAloney, and Lorenz (376 ) have 
shown the i injury it causes to be secondary, but it possibly hastens the 
death of the attacked trees. It does not seem to be sufliciently aggres- 
sive, however, to attack and kill healthy trees, and when the cause a 
the original injury subsides the borers disappear. In general. 
control is recommended, although following defoliator Rr, it 
might be of some benefit to dispose of the borer -infested trees on the 
or ounds that reduction in number of beetles gives some of the weak- 
ened trees a better chance of survival. 
Other species of J/elanophila which occur in the East but are not 
of much economic importance are I. notata (C. & G.) in pine; J. 
acuminata (Deg.) in pine, spruce, and fir; the flatheaded fir borer (J/. 
drummondi (Kby.)) im spruce, fir, larch, and hemlock; and J. 
aeneola Melsh. in pine. 
Poecilonota cyanipes (Say), the flatheaded poplar borer, is an 
elongate, oval, bronze beetle, from 11 to 14 mm. in length, with the 
tips ‘of the elytra coppery, and the body beneath bluish. The larvae 
have the prothoracic plates smooth, the dorsal marked with an in- 
verted V, the ventral with a single groove. The larvae feed beneath 
the bark of wounds on living poplar trees where they mine for 2 years. 
Their galleries are not very extensive, and they pupate beneath the 
bark. P. thureura (Say) is very similar and is found under the same 
circumstances in willow. 
Ptosima gibbicollis (Say), the flatheaded redbud borer. is 6 to 7.5 
mim. in length, dark blue and spotted with yellow above. Each elytron 
bears an elongated yellow spot extending from the base to beyond 
the middle and another like area near the apex. The larva is of the 
usual form, having the prothoracic plates very large, covering most 
of the segment, whitish opaque and without any rugosities. Each is 
impressed with a dark, median, longitudinal line or groove and the 
first abdominal segment is smaller than the following. It is found 
in the eastern part of the United States in redbud. The adults pass 
the winter in their pupal cells and emerge about the time the redbud 
foliage is expanding. They lay their eggs in wounds and irregular 
areas on trunks and branches. The larvae mine the sapwood and fre- 
quently hasten the death of the trees. No practical control has been 
developed. 
The adult Trachykele lecontei (Gory), the flatheaded bald cypress 
heartwood borer, is a dark, ashy-bronze beetle, about 12 to 14 mm. 
long, marked with black, velvety spots. The plate on the prothoracic 
segment of the larva is smooth and marked by an inverted Y, which is 
surrounded at the apex by a broad impressed shining area. The beetle 
is in flight early in the spring along the coast from . Virginia south to 
Louisiana and lays its eggs in dead and dying bald cypress or on blazes 
where the wood is exposed. The greater part of its mines are extended 
through the heartwood and for this reason, it frequently causes a 
serious degrade of lumber. The only control in logging operations is 
SS ee Oe ee a Bin 
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