Connor and I were wandering around the Sheldon Jackson quad yesterday morning when he brought me a spruce cone he had found. I told him what it was and then (for reasons I do not recall) decided to twist it apart. It twisted apart very easily and I noticed that inside was a small insect larvae. It seemed to be dead (it did not move when I touched it) and I am guessing that it was the reason the cone twisted apart so easily (others I picked up afterwards did not). It would be interesting to find out what kind of insect uses spruce cones for the larval stage.