11 
February would have come out the preceding autumn in time 
go lay their eggs for another generation if the tree in which 
ohey were bred had been exposed to the open sun. This matter 
s not of immediate practical importance, however, as all direct 
observations in Europe and America show that the insect passes 
the winter only as a larva under the bark, and that these hibei- 
oating larva? transform and escape as aciults from eai l.\ spiing 
to summer, beginning to emerge as early as the last of Maxell, 
and laying their eggs without delay. Eggs are certainly laid in 
the fall (September), and the beetles then perish in our latitude. 
The larval hibernation in the tree is the vulnerable point in the 
biography of this insect, and suggests at once the most ceitain 
and simple remedy; viz., the destruction by fire, in winter, of 
the trees or parts of trees containing them 
While it can hardly be said at present that it would be wise 
to destroy every tree, root and branch, which contains the in¬ 
sect in any number, it certainly is best that all trees badly in¬ 
fested should be cut up and burned during the winter months, 
and that punctured twigs and branches of those less severely 
attacked should be cut away and similarly destroyed. As the 
beetles may begin to emerge in March, this procedure should 
not be too long delayed. It is now scarcely possible, however, 
to completely exterminate this insect in Illinois by any measures 
which may be reasonably taken at the present time. It is too 
wide-spread, occurs in too great a variety of fruits, quite pos¬ 
sibly even in those growing wild in woodlands, and its life his¬ 
tory is too imperfectly known to make advisable the diastic 
measures which an effort at extermination would lequiie. 
Especially I judge that legal compulsion—only to be used as a 
last resort—should at least be delayed until all the facts are 
learned and until all reasonable measures have been tested, in¬ 
cluding a thorough-going co-operation among fruit-growers in 
Southern Illinois. An attempt at extermination would mean 
the absolute destruction of every tree showing even the least 
attack; and if later investigation should make known some less 
expensive method, or if a study of the prevalence of parasitism 
should give us ground to expect a natural limitation of the ^in¬ 
jury, no such destruction could be justified by the event. The 
investigations of the next two years will doubtless cleai up un¬ 
certainties, and enable fruit-growing communities to act wisely 
and effectively. There is a possibility that thorough treatment 
of the trees with some poison spray—especially if an adhesive 
substance is mixed with it—at the time of year when these 
beetles are making their way into the bark, would have the 
effect completely to arrest this injury at the same time that it 
should protect the trees against the cankerworm and many 
other destructive species. Even the application of soap and 
soda poisoned with arsenic, now used against ordinary boon s, 
if applied to the larger branches as well as the trunk, might 
be found to check sufficiently the mischief done by this bark 
beetle. 
