its a tiny white egg. That soon hatches into the
small grub, and the grub begins to burrow out to get his food, and you
will find these little burrows running out from the main burrow of the
mother beetle. When these grubs reach their growth, each one of them
comes out and bores a little shot-hole-like round hole through the bark,
so that a tree that is pestered with it will finally have the bark full
of these little round holes. You have probably seen a similar thing in
peach, plum, and cherry trees.

The hickory bark borer is found all over the eastern United States, from
Canada to the Gulf, and as far west as Nebraska. It attacks hickory
trees and walnut trees, and as far as I can find, the authorities say
probably the pecan. I never found it on the pecan in the South. If it
does ever come to attack it in any numbers, it will be a serious pest
from the nut grower's point of view.

In this state, it was first noticed by its work on hickory trees in the
vicinity of New York City, and it is killing a good many of them. To
show its dangerousness--on the estate of Mr. Wadsworth at Geneseo in
1900 and 1901 over an area of two hundred acres, it destroyed ninety to
ninety-five per cent of the hickories. It really becomes a most
injurious pest. These little fellows running under the bark cut off the
cambium layer and girdle it, and kill the tree as effectually as if we
were to take an axe and girdle it. A few can girdle it very quickly.

An infested tree in the summer shows some characteristic effects. The
leaves begin to dry and wither, and finally drop. The adult beetles,
when they come out in June and July, attack the petioles, leaves, and
terminal buds for food, then go down to the larger branches and trunks,
and burrow to lay their eggs. The younger top branches begin to die. If
you look, you will very often find a little white sawdust in cracks in
the bark. That is an indication that they are present. If you take off
the bark, you will find such an appearance as I have shown you. Later,
you will find these holes all over, showing the work of the beetle.

I will give the life history of the insect very briefly. The insects
live over the winter under the bark, as grubs, and in the spring they
change to the pupa form, and come out along in June and July. Some may
be as late as August. Those beetles go to the branches and leaves, and
soon begin laying their eggs. There is only one brood a season, in this
locality at leas