Page:The Olive Its Culture in Theory and Practice.djvu/139

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This insect has long antennæ which are enlarged slightly near the ends with fourteen or fifteen joints according to sex. The upper wings have three small cubical cells at the base. The borer at base of abdomen is placed between two blade shaped appendages. The female bores into the branches and deposits her eggs. The resulting larvæ gnaws the bark, wood, and even the pith, digging little winding tunnels. The buds on the branches attacked soon wither away.

This insect reaches its perfect development about the beginning of summer. The methods for its destruction should be the same as for the Hylesinus oleiperda.

This insect has antennæ like an elbow, having nine joints, the first long and the last oval. The head is large and broad, the abdomen of the female prolonged into a conical point. Wings without radiating cells. Tarsi with first joint the longest. Borer scarcely visible. Head a splendid bronze green. Upper wings transparent, without sinews, and with two black spots in each near the outer edge. The Antennæ and feet black. Tarsi deep yellow. Its habits are about the same as the insect just described.

This formidable enemy of the olive is known as the olive moth. The egg is globular in form (Fig. 7), and its surface is composed of minute tubercles. In color it is milky white, and is about a hundredth of an inch in diameter.

The larva (Fig. 8, 8a, 8b) has a long, soft body, with fourteen rings, one cephalic, three thoracic, and ten abdominal. It has three pairs of true feet in the thoracic rings, and five false pairs in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and tenth abdominal rings.