134 TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



Tlie insects injurious to fruit trees were more particularly consid- 

 ered. The history of those attacking the apple, peach, pear, plum, 

 cherry, grape, &c., was given, and the proper means of destroying 

 them. 



l^\iQ forest trees of our country have not yet received the scientific 

 consideration they deserve — that is, as to their economical importance. 

 They have been named and described, and some splendid illustrated 

 works have been published upon them, but they have not been culti- 

 vated with care, and no attention is paid to their preservation. This 

 is owing to their vast numbers, and it will jirobably be a century 

 hence before we shall find it necessary to have a public officer, as they 

 have in Europe, whose special duty it shall be to superintend the 

 woods and forests. 



Our common hickory tree is sometimes much injured by a beetle, 

 {Areoda lanigera.) The grubs of the beautiful family of beetles {Bu- 

 prestidoi) are wood eaters and borers. The solid trunks and limbs of 

 sound and vigorous trees are often bored through in various directions 

 by them, and, of course, destroyed. The grub of a Capricorn beetle 

 (Stenocorus garganicus) inhabits the hickory, and forms long galleries 

 in the trunk. 



The oalis are attacked by the larva of Elapliidion putafor, which. 

 perforates the small branches to the extent of six or eight inches. It 

 lives in the pith^ and, when it is full-fed, it eats away all the wood 

 transversely from within, leaving only the ring of the bark untouched. 

 It then retires backwards, stops up the end of its hole near the trans- 

 verse section with the fibres of the wood, and the next strong wind 

 breaks off the twig^ preci]3itates it to the ground, the larva then comes 

 out, buries itself in the earth, and there undergoes its transform- 

 ation. 



The pine trees in this country, as well as in Europe, have also 

 sufl:ered much from an insignificant beetle. Its ravages have been 

 extensive. A few years ago there were loud complaints of the depre- 

 dations of a certain insect on the pine trees of the South, but people, 

 for the most part, did not know what it was. It is a small beetle, 

 {Hylohius pales, or picivorus.) 



The elm trees in New England, or rather their foliage, is destroyed 

 by what is there called the canJcer-worm. It is the larva of a small 

 butterfly, which is hatched from the egg of the luingless female. She 

 climbs up the tree by its trunk. To prevent this, the trunk, near the 

 top;, is encircled by a leaden trough, filled with tar or oil, and this 

 prevents the female from reaching the leaves, on which she deposites 

 her eggs. For some years back, the elm trees of our State have been 

 denuded by the larva of an insect. People had heard of the means 

 employed in New England to prevent the ravages of the worm, and 

 soon many of our elm trees were furnished with leaden troughs, but 

 the insect was as mischievous as ever. What was the reason ? Sim- 

 ply this, that the insect in New England is an entirely different one 

 from ours. That is a hutterjly, the wingless female of which is obliged 

 to crawl up tlie trunk of the tree ; ours is a beetle, the winged female 

 of which Jlies to the tree, and, of course, the leaden trough on the 



