INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



253 



Fig. 242. — The spotted tree-borer, 

 Synaphccta guexi Lee. Adult, nat- 

 ural size, i Original ) 



of all the legs arc clothed with short orange-colored hair. The average 

 length is about f inch and the greatest width f inch. 



Life History. — The life history is probably parallel to that of the 

 nautical borer. The insect has not been studied more than to rear it 

 from injured or dead trees. They 

 breed year after year in the heart- 

 wood. 



Nature of Work. — The larva 1 usu- 

 ally feed upon dead or dying trees, but 

 not infrequently they attack living tis- 

 sues and do some injury. 



Distribution. — This beetle ranges 

 from British Columbia to the southern 

 part of California. 



Food Plants. — The normal food 

 plants are California buckeye 155 and 

 cottonwood and probably the wild wal- 

 nut, inasmuch as the cultivated English walnut is sometimes seriously 

 injured. 



Control. — The measures recommended for such beetles as the fiat- 

 headed apple-tree borer and the oak twig-girdler may be used to con- 

 trol this pest. In practically all cases con- 

 trol measures cost more 1 than the actual 

 damage done. 



THE BLACK GOOSEBERRY BORER 



Xylocrius agassizii Leconte 150 



( Fig. 243) 



Description. — The beetles are dull 

 black, sparsely covered with hair and 

 about -] inch long. They greatly resemble 

 X. cribratus Lee. (Fig. 243), but the 

 apical portions of the elytra are smoother 

 on the surface. 



Life History.— The larvae work within 

 the stems of the gooseberry hushes. They 

 enter at a fork or axil and work down 

 towards the roots, where the winter is 

 spent. There is usually but one in a 

 hush. 157 



Nature of Work.- The injury is caused 

 by the burrows of the larva 1 in the stems 

 and the bases of the roots, often resulting 



Fig. 243. — Xylocrius cribratus 

 Lee. A black beetle injuring 

 gooseberries in California. En- 

 Larged twice. (Original) 



in death to parts or to whole bushes. 



'"'■Kail, Fi. C, Kept. Cal. Acad. Sci., VIII, p. 150, 1901. 



!r,, A closely related species, Xylocrius cribratus Lee, is also reported by Dr. B. C. 

 Van Dyke as injurious to gooseberries in California. It is the must abundanl of the 

 two and is distinguished from the above species by having the posterior portion ol the 

 elytra more punctured and therefore rougher. < Ki?;. 243). 



,57 Bul. No. 23, n. s. Bur. Ent.. U. S. Dept. Agric, pp. 90-91, lilOO. 



