By Plantmaiden
Cambridgeshire,
United Kingdom 
can you tell me wht these might be please
i have just re-potted my xmas trees (normanniana) up to larger size pots and found these brown cases in some of the compost,you can see a tiny hole in acouple which didn't have anything inside,the other ones had white liquid when squashed.i have remove them from the soil but wondered if anyone knew what they have been made by.
the compost was terrible from the shop,very woody,wondered if they were in it when bought,but not all the trees have them,so maybe not.
27 Mar, 2011
Answers
It looks like Beetle pupae. Can't say what species or if friend or foe.
27 Mar, 2011
Fortunately, it looks like some of them have been parasitized. I'd watch for symptoms of grubs, and keep a bottle of Provado on hand!
28 Mar, 2011
Looks like it may be soem sort of insect egg, but the fact that the holes are so small compared to the "egg" though makes me unsure.
Maybe someone else is more knowledgeable.
27 Mar, 2011