42« 



Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W 



[June 2. 1920. 



It is a typical rnemher of the family Chrysomcdidcp, which contains so 

 many of our foHage-eating beetles, and until found in the apple orchard, it 

 was a comparatively rare insect in the bush. Nothing is known about its 

 life history, but like many allied forms its larva is a plant-eating grub, and 

 probably pupates in the soil. Most of the species of this genus previously 

 described are more or less tropical in their distribution. 



The beetle measures a quarter of an inch in length. The eyes are black 

 and projecting on tlie sides of the head, which is sharply turned down in 

 front. The head, thorax, and abdomen are rich reddish brown ; the deep 



pitting of the dorsal 

 surface is finest upon 

 the head and thorax, 

 and greatly intensi- 

 fies the' metallic 

 reflections from this 

 / surface; the head knd 

 thorax are darkest. 

 The legs and antennae 

 are brownish yellow, 

 the swollen femora 

 (thigh) of the hind 



legs 



being 



rich 



Apples damaged by the Pitted Apple Beetle (Geloplera porosa Lea). 



metallic yellow. 



The damage caused 

 to the apples is very 

 much like that done 

 by a richly metallic 

 green lamellicorn 

 beetle (Diphucephaia 

 colaspoide i > n 

 in Victoria and Tas- 

 mania, where under 

 normal conditions it 

 feeds upon the black 

 wattle scrub, from 



which it migrates into the adjoining orchards. French figured and described 

 it (*' Destructive Insects of Victoria, Pt. II, 1893 ") under the name of the 

 Cherry Green Beetle. He recorded it damaging ripe cherries in Victoria, 

 but the writer has seen it about New Year gnawing the skin off the apples 

 in the vicinity of Hobait. 



.Spraying with arsenate of lead would kill these beetles, but if they rest on 

 the apple trees through the night, they can be very effectively dislodged by 

 jarring the branches in the early morning, when they ate in a semi-torpid 

 condition. They can then be collected on a sheet previously placed on the 

 ground under the tree. 



