536 
HYMENOPTERA. 
that the body of this tree, two or three feet from the ground, 
was pierced with many small holes, to the depth of an inch 
or more, and in these holes there were great numbers of 
larvae, about one sixth of an inch in length, which he sup¬ 
posed were hatched from the eggs seen there before ; and 
he came to the conclusion that the tree was “ destroyed 
by the deadly needles of the winged insect” above men¬ 
tioned.* The latter was subsequently sent to me for exam¬ 
ination, and enabled me to furnish an account of it, which, 
with a description of the male insect, was published in Jan¬ 
uary, 1827, in the fifth volume of the “ New England 
Farmer.” 
The insect proved to be the Slrex Columha of Linnaeus, 
or Tremex Coluynha of modern naturalists. Sirex is a cor¬ 
ruption of the Greek 
name for a wild bee ; 
Tremex signifies a per¬ 
forator, or maker of 
holes ; and Columha a 
pigeon. The body of 
the female (Fig. 250) 
is cylindrical, about as 
thick as a common lead- 
pencil, and an inch and 
a half or more in length, 
exclusive of the borer, 
which is an inch long, 
and projects three eighths of an inch beyond the end of 
the body. The latter rounds upwards, like the stem of 
a boat, and is armed with a point or short horn. The 
head and the thorax are rust-colored, varied with black. 
The abdomen, or hinder and longest part of the body, is 
black, with seven ochre-yellow bands across the back, all 
of them but the first two interrupted in the middle. The 
horned tail, and a round spot before it, impressed as if 
• See New England Farmer, Vol. V. pp. 167, 175, 186, and 211. 
