Nov. 19,1917 
Three-Lined Fig-Tree Borer 
381 
SEASONAL HISTORY 
Adult beetles of the three-lined fig-tree borer first begin to emerge in 
March, but it is not until May that emergence is well under way, with 
the beetles appearing rapidly. The largest number of beetles appear in 
September, and the last specimens emerge in November or early Decem¬ 
ber. These late-emerging beetles will deposit eggs on the warmer days 
of winter till at least as late as January 24. Fewest eggs are deposited 
in the months from February to April, inclusive, and the greatest number 
from May to September, inclusive. There is no true hibernation period 
in the latitude of New Orleans, but there is a period of comparative 
inactivity during the months from December to February, inclusive, 
during which, however, a slight amount of oviposition occurs, and eggs, 
larvae, pupae, and adults may be found in the fig wood. 
The life cycle, from egg to adult, was passed by 54 specimens, or about 
five-sixths of the number observed through all stages, in the same 
season in which the eggs were deposited, their average life cycle being 
3.5 months. Ten, or about one-sixth of them, lived through from May 
to June of one year to May and June of the following year, their average 
life cycle being 11.5 months. The generations are irregular, the hatch 
of the eggs deposited in the months from March to May reaching the 
adult state in the months from June to November, the hatch of a majority 
of those deposited in June and July becoming adults in the months from 
August to November, inclusive, and the remainder from March to June 
of the following year. 
CONTROL OF THE BORER 
Since the adult three-lined fig-tree borer does not as a rule oviposit 
in the perfectly sound limbs or trunk of the healthy trees, the most 
important measure of control is to keep the trees in the healthiest con¬ 
dition possible. The larger branches, 1 inch in diameter and upward, 
and the trunk are the parts particularly susceptible to attack. 
Care should be taken to avoid bruising the bark or breaking limbs 
in cultivating and in picking the fruit, and the trees should be shaped 
to strengthen them as far as possible against breaking or splitting by 
heavy winds. The work of such diseases of the limbs as fig-canker and 
fig-limb blight should also be prevented as far as possible. 
When a branch is accidentally broken, it should bfe immediately cut 
off smooth at its juncture with the larger branch or trunk and the 
wound painted with a mixture of five parts of coal tar and one part of 
creosote. At least a second and possibly a third coat should be ap¬ 
plied when the preceding coat is dry. 
It is important to prevent the first branch of a tree from becoming 
infested, as one infested and dying branch will invite further attacks 
