OF THE FAKM AND GARDElsr. 171 



of the same brilliant color; there are several short black 

 prickles along the top of the back. The caterpillar 

 tapers towards the tail, and this end is always elevated 

 when it is at rest. When full grown, all the caterpillars 

 of the same brood descend to the ground at the same time, 

 seek a hiding place under leaves, or just below the sur- 

 face of the soil, where they form cocoons, and assume 

 the chrysalis state (fig. 110), in which they remain un- 

 til the following June, when the perfect insect issues 

 as a small, neat-looking moth of a general light-brown 

 color, the fore-wings are dark-brown along the inner 

 margin, with a dark-brown spot near the middle. 

 The wings expand from an inch, to an inch and three- 

 eighths. If these caterpillars are noticed when first 

 hatched, they will be found all near together, and may be 

 readily destroyed. 



THE TWIG GIRDLER. 



{Oncideres cingulatus, Say.) 



This beetle is known to girdle a great number of dif- 

 ferent trees, among which may be men- 

 tioned Apple, Pear, Peach, and Plum, 

 Hickory, Elm, Persimmon, and Ameri- 

 can Linden. Both sexes of the beetle 

 feed upon the bark of the Hickory, but 

 only the females, so far as we are aware, 

 girdle the twigs. After partly girdling 

 a particular twig she lays a number of 

 eggs in the upper portion that has been 

 killed, each egg being usually inserted 

 just beneath a bud. Figure 111 shows 

 the insect and her work. The twig usu- 

 ally, though not always, breaks off by girdler ( Oncideres 

 the force of the wind during winter, and ^^''^duiatus, Sa>.) 

 the larvae flourish upon the dead wood as it lies upon the 



