STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
719 
PINK. TRUNK. 
about equal to the width of the track in their length, but less in 
their width, and having their outer ends evenly rounded. In 
each of these notches from one to four eggs are placed. And 
as the beetles mine their way onwards, the fine dust which they 
form probably becomes strewed along the track behind them. 
Then, as they travel backwards and forwards in the burrow 
from time to time, the little stiff hairs with which their bodies 
are bearded, serve as a brush to sweep this dust into these late¬ 
ral openings. Thus the mouths of these notches become filled 
and the eggs therein covered and concealed from any predace¬ 
ous insect which may enter the burrow after the parent has 
completed her work and before the eggs have hatched and the 
young have mined their way beyond the reach of such enemies. 
The female continues her operations until her stock of eggs is 
exhausted, forming a burrow from four to eight inches or more 
in length. 
The eggs of this beetle are about 0.025 long, of a broad oval 
6hape and a watery white color. They may be met with in 
their newly formed burrows beneath the bark the fore part of 
June. They probably hatch in ten to twenty days, according 
to the temperature of the atmosphere at this time. The infan¬ 
tile larva is invariably found lying with its back towards the 
sawdust with which the notch in which it is bred is filled, its 
mouth being thus brought in contact with the soft innermost 
layer of the bark at the extremity of the notch—the elastic 
nature of the sawdust probably aiding in pressing its mouth 
against its destined nourishment. Thus it has only to part its 
jaws and close them together again to fill its mouth with food. 
And by repetitions of this motion a cavity is gradually formed 
between the bark and the wood, into which its head sinks, and 
afterwards its body. This cavity consequently takes a direc¬ 
tion outwards at right angles with the central burrow. And 
thus the larva eats its way onward until it has obtained its 
growth, forming hereby a gallery varying in its length from 
about one to three inches, as the material consumed has been of 
a quality more or less nutricious, and winding and turning 
where impediments have been encountered or the track of an¬ 
other larva has been approached. Many of these lateral 
I 
