THE LONG- 110K NED WOOD-BOHiNG BEETLES. 102.") 



two small, smooth elevations each side, the front one rounded, the other 

 oblong, the two sometimes connected. Elytra deeply, rather sparsely and 

 finely punctured, the tips each with two short spines. Length 14-17 nim. 



Throughout the State; much more frequent in the southern 

 counties. June 25-September 20. 



189G (0002). ELAPHIDION VIIXOSTM Fab., Ent. Syst, I, 1708. :!02. 



Elongate, slender, subcyl- 

 indrical. Dark brown, clothed 

 with grayish-yellow, some- 

 what mottled pubescence ; an- 

 tenna 1 and legs reddish-brown. 

 Antenna? of female shorter, 

 those of male longer, than 

 body, joints 3-5 armed with 

 short spines. Thorax cylin- 

 drical unarmed, surface 

 coarsely, deeply and rather ru- 

 gosely punctured. Elytra par- 

 allel, deeply and rather coarse- Fig 436 x 2- (After chittenden in Bull. No. 18, New Ser., 

 ly punctured, the tips each U. S. Div. Ent.) 



with two short spines, the outer one the longer. Length 11.5-17 mm. (Fig. 

 436.) 



Throughout the State; common. May 11-July 11. This spe- 

 cies is the well-known " oak-pruner, " which does much damage to 

 oak and other trees by cutting off the small leaf -bearing twigs. Ac- 

 cording to Chittenden* it attacks almost every woody plant that 

 grows, including all the more common forms of fruit trees. The 

 severed twigs vary in length from a few inches to two or three feet 

 and sometimes are more than an inch in diameter. An examina- 

 tion of one, and sometimes of both ends of one of the twigs will 

 show a smoothly cut surface, near the center of which will be seen 

 a more or less oval opening plugged up with a wad of a material 

 composed of fine shavings and sawdust. If one of these limbs be 

 split open a larva or pupa will be found. The larva is subcylin- 

 drical, soft and fleshy, and of a whitish or light-yellowish color. It 

 is provided with legs which are, however, somewhat rudimentary 

 and of little service to the creature as organs of locomotion. 



"The pruning process is not always in itself especially injurious, 

 but the ultimate effects are apt to be more serious. The fallen 

 twigs serve as a breeding plnce for hosts of other wood borers, many 

 of which are injurious to timber. Among these ;ire some which do 

 not hesitate, in default of an abundance of dead wood, to attack and 

 injure living trees. In case this beetle becomes injuriously abun- 



*Bull. 18, New Ser., U. S. Div. Ent., 1898, 37. 



