186 PLUM. 



Xylehorus clisimr, or " Shot-borer," a very small dark brown 

 beetle, which until the year 1889 had been considered to be 

 one of our rarest species, although on the Continent it has 

 been recorded for many years as occasionally doing enormous 

 mischief to various kinds both of young orchard and forest 

 trees. 



The injury is caused by the beetles driving their tunnels, so 

 as in the case of quite young trees to partially ring them, and 

 also to clear out an inch or so of the central pith ; in the 

 older, though still far from full-grown, trees, although the 

 borings were not so regularly placed, still, from their large 

 number, they interfered with the passage of the sap and did 

 great harm. 



In German observations this species has been recorded as 

 seriously injurious to many kinds of trees, as Apple, Pear, 

 and Plum ; also to many kinds of Alder, and to Beech, Oak, 

 Chestnut, Maple, and Hawthorn ; and it is noticed by Herr 

 Eichhoff as infesting almost any kind of tree, including 

 Conifers. 



In America the first observ£itions of it were as being 

 injurious to the branches of young Pear trees; and later 

 on it is noted that Pear and Apple trees suffered from its 

 attacks from Nova Scotia southward. With us, so far as 

 I am aware, it is the Plum which at present has been the 

 only tree to which its attack has been recorded as a regular 

 orchard pest. It may certainly be said to be a widespread 

 trouble, both as to the range of its geographical distribution, 

 and also the many kinds of trees which it infests. 



The first information I had of the presence of this beetle 

 was sent me on September 1st, 1889, from the Toddington 

 Fruit-grounds (Gloucestershire), with the observation: — "I 

 enclose a portion of the stem of a young Plum tree, in which 

 you will see a small beetle which has bored its way into the 

 wood and killed the tree. We are losing several trees from 

 the same cause." 



Later on, that is, early in December, specimens were sent 

 me of the same kind of beetle (X. dispar), with information of 

 it having been present for three years and doing serious 

 damage in a locality near Kidderminster; also that it had 

 done much harm at Hartlebury, a village about four miles 

 from Kidderminster ; and also that it was present at another 

 farm in a different direction about seven or eight miles from 

 Kidderminster. 



On examination I found that the cause of the injury was 

 the Xylehorus dispar, sometimes known as the " Shot-borer" 

 Beetle, figured at p. 185. These beetles are of a pitchy-brown 

 or pitchy-black colour ; the wing-cases are of a redder brown 



